entrepreneurship starts here
Dallas leads on 2026 list of the best big cities to start a business
Dallas ranked 11th in the U.S. in 2026, and previously ranked 16th in 2025.
The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is showing its strong entrepreneurial spirit after Dallas and five of its neighbors appeared on WalletHub's new list of the best large U.S. cities for starting a business in 2026. Dallas leads the charge in North Texas as the No. 11 best city nationwide.
The annual report compared 100 U.S. cities based on 19 relevant metrics across three key dimensions: business environment, access to resources, and costs. Factors that were analyzed include five-year business survival rates, job growth comparisons from 2020 and 2024, population growth of working-age individuals aged 16-64, office space affordability, and more.
Florida cities locked out the top five best places in America for starting a new business: Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Hialeah, and St. Petersburg.
Dallas' business environment ranked as the fifth-best in the country, and the city ranked 45th for its "access to resources," and 64th in the "business costs" category. Dallas also topped a separate ranking of cities with the longest average workweeks nationwide.
Here's how Dallas compared in some of the other rankings in the study:
- No. 24 – Numerical small business growth
- No. 29 – Financing accessibility
- No. 40 – Labor costs
- No. 55 – Cost of living
Elsewhere in North Texas, Irving ranked No. 16 nationally, followed by Arlington (No. 23), Fort Worth (No. 30), Plano, (No. 35), and Garland (No. 65).
Earlier this year, WalletHub declared Texas the third-best state for starting a business in 2026, and several DFW cities have seen robust growth after being recognized among the top 20 best career hotspots in the U.S. WalletHub also ranked Plano the 7th best U.S. city for finding a job.
Only seven other Texas cities earned spots in the report: Austin (No. 24), Houston (No. 26), Lubbock (No. 36), Corpus Christi (No. 39), San Antonio (No. 64), El Paso (No. 67), and Laredo (No. 76).
Austin tied with Boise, Idaho and Fresno, California for the highest average growth in the number of small businesses nationally, while Corpus Christi and Laredo topped a separate list of the U.S. cities with the most accessible financing.
