Frisco has landed some sweet recognition for its business-friendly atmosphere. A new ranking puts Frisco eighth among what it calls "the most business-savvy cities in America."

The Go.Verizon.com study, titled "The 15 Most Ambitious U.S. Cities," looked only at cities with at least 100,000 residents and used data from the 2019 U.S. Census.

Six factors went into the ranking the list:

• Average household income.
• Unemployment rate.
• Percentage of people with at least a bachelor's degree.
• Number of applications to start a business.
• Percentage of population that starts a business.
• Homeownership rate.

"Frisco residents can spend confidently: The mean household income is $153,704," Go.Verizon.com says. "Business owners in the city provide plenty of places for citizens to spend all that cash — Frisco has video game museums, vintage automobile collections, and outdoor concert venues."

The booming suburb north of Dallas — one of America's fastest-growing cities — consistently ranks high as a place to live, work, and play. One recent national survey named it the No. 6 hot spot for young professionals age 25 to 39; another found it to be a top city for women working in STEM fields; another, among the best places to buy a house (although neighbor Celina is now outpacing it for new home builds).

The city even appeared atop a ranking of the country’s best places to be stuck at home during the pandemic.

Frisco continues to attract the interest of major employers like Keurig Dr Pepper, PGA of America, and the Dallas Cowboys.

One other Texas city actually tops the Go.Verizon.com list: Sugar Land, a suburb of Houston, comes in at No. 1.

"Landing the coveted top position on our list, business owners in this suburb outside of Houston know a thing or two about doing it bigger," Go.Verizon.com says. "With a mean household income of $157,923 and an unemployment rate of only 3 percent, Sugar Land lives up to its statue of the strong-willed Stephen Austin, the 'Father of Texas.'"

Key sectors of the economy in Sugar Land, home to roughly 118,500 residents, include manufacturing, biotech, financial services, and energy. Among the major employers are Accredo Packaging, Champion X, Fluor, and Schlumberger.

Frisco and Sugar Land are the only Texas cities to make the list of 15, which is dominated by California communities: West Covina (2), Torrance (3), Santa Clarita (4), Carlsbad (5), Norwalk (6), Thousand Oaks (9), Fremont (11), and Burbank (14). Rounding out the list are: Pembroke Pines, Florida (7), Coral Springs, Florida (10), Columbia, Missouri (12), Scottsdale, Arizona (13), and Miami Gardens, Florida (15).

---

A version of this story originally appeared on our sister site InnovationMap.com.