Best Cities to Start a Business in Massachusetts

Home to some of the nation’s top universities, including Harvard, MIT, and Boston University, it’s no surprise that Massachusetts is flush with top talent engaged in the most cutting-edge and exciting tech industries. Trailing only California and New York in venture capital investment yet edging them both in cost of living and rent prices, the state is an attractive base for recently graduated entrepreneurial hopefuls drawn to its lively biotech community and put off by the hypercompetitive nature and high business tax rates endemic to Silicon Valley.

Topping our ranking for best Massachusetts cities to start a business are two Bristol County cities, Fall River (#1) and Taunton (#2). Located about an hour of the south of Boston by car, Bristol County offers rent prices that are significantly cheaper than those of Beantown and Cambridge, while young businesses in Fall River or Taunton are still able to draw from the unparalleled talent pool emerging from the state’s excellent universities.

According to Robert Munroe, the chief operating officer of Founders Science Group, a lab testing, storage, and pharmaceutical company that recently relocated to Taunton, “compare the rent of Cambridge to Taunton. In that regard, it makes perfect sense to be out here.”

Filling out the top five are three cities in Norfolk County, Quincy (#3), Weymouth (#4), and Brookline (#5). Norfolk is the wealthiest county in Massachusetts, and one of the wealthiest in the United States, boasting a median household income of $81,899. Once a manufacturing hub, Norfolk County is now home to a number of large firms in the healthcare and finance industries.

Only cities with over 50,000 inhabitants are reported in the results. Some data had to be interpolated to the county level and extrapolated to all the cities in the county. We concentrated on the following metrics to obtain our ranking: Cost of living, Best state for business, Unemployment, Kauffman index, and Universities.