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Texas ranks No. 3 best state to start a business in U.S., report says

Texas ranked behind Utah, No. 1, and Florida, No. 2.

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For years, Texas has been lauded for its business climate being welcoming to new businesses and startups. A new study shows that the Lone Star State has yet again made the list.

Texas ranked third in personal finance website WalletHub's recent report, 2023's Best & Worst States to Start a Business, with a score of 56.85 points. Texas ranked behind Utah, No. 1, and Florida, No. 2, and just ahead of Colorado. Idaho, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, and California make up the rest of the top 10, respectively.

The study looked at 27 key indicators of startup success across all 50 states. Texas was recognized for these factors in particular:

No. 10 – average growth in number of small businesses
No. 30 – labor costs
No. 10 – availability of human capital
No. 4 – average length of work week (in hours)
No. 14 – cost of living
No. 13 – industry variety
No. 31 – percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19

Source: WalletHub

Richard Ryffel, professor of finance practice at Washington University in St. Louis, noted the importance of policy in making a state a good place to start a business.

"Established businesses looking to expand might expand or relocate entirely based on the relative favorability of the local business climate," Ryffel says. "Recently, Texas, for example, has been the beneficiary of some significant business relocations based on its business-friendly policies."

The methodology of the study focused on three key dimensions — business environment, access to resources, and business costs — and 27 relevant metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, and then each state’s average across all metrics was used to calculate its overall score.

In fall 2022, Dallas ranked No. 8 on 42Floors' list of best U.S. metros to start a business.

Earlier that year, WalletHub named Farmers Branch one of the best small cities in Texas for starting a business. It appeared at No. 102 on the list overall, and No. 2 in Texas. Other DFW cities in the survey included Haltom City (No. 406), The Colony (No. 436), Grapevine (No. 457), and Flower Mound (No. 733).

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This article originally appeared on our sister site InnovationMap.

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Plano is the 7th best U.S. city to find a job in 2026, report finds

Photo courtesy of Visit Plano

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Dallas neighbor Plano has worked its way into 7th place in WalletHub's new study ranking the best places to find a job in 2026.

The just-released "Best Cities for Jobs (2026)" report compared 182 U.S. cities based on 31 relevant metrics "that shape the strength of local job markets" across two main categories: a socioeconomics rank and a job market rank.

WalletHub determined the top three best U.S. cities to find a job in 2026 are Scottsdale, Arizona (No. 1); Columbia, Maryland (No. 2); and Portland, Maine (No. 3).

The report found Plano's job market ranking — which covered job opportunities, employment growth, unemployment rates, job automation risk, and more — is the 6th best in the U.S.

Plano also ranked No. 40 in the nationwide socioeconomic category, which analyzed housing affordability, median annual income, average work and commute times, transit accessibility, and many other factors.

While these employment indicators are important to consider when researching the best place to find work, WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said the quality of the jobs available matters just as much as the quantity of available jobs in a city.

"There are plenty of secondary factors to take into account as well, from how easy a city makes commuting to jobs to whether it’s a good place for raising a family or engaging in recreational activities outside of work," Lupo said.

Plano is home to the headquarters and regional offices for major corporations including Toyota, J.C. Penney, Frito-Lay, PepsiCo, Bank of America, Capital One, Ericsson, and soon, AT&T.

Plano was dubbed the No. 6 best city for remote workers in 2025, and the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metro recently ranked No. 3 a separate national ranking of the best cities for startups.

Elsewhere in Texas, 10 more cities made it into the top-100 best places for finding a job: Austin (No. 9), Irving (No. 18), Grand Prairie (No. 24), Amarillo (No. 32), Garland (No. 48), Dallas (No. 54), Arlington (No. 60), Fort Worth (No.77), San Antonio (No. 78), and Corpus Christi (No. 100).

The top 10 best U.S. cities for finding a job in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 2 – Columbia, Maryland
No. 3 – Portland, Maine
No. 4 – South Burlington, Vermont
No. 5 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
No. 6 – Orlando, Florida
No. 7 – Plano, Texas
No. 8 – Washington, D.C.
No. 9 – Austin, Texas
No. 10 – Huntsville, Alabama

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