Best Cities to Start a Business in Michigan

Once one of the nation’s top centers of manufacturing and capital of the world’s automotive industry, Michigan and its urban centers experienced a depressing economic decline in recent decades due to outsourcing of labor and demographic shifts.

Yet, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and signs point to the likelihood of Michigan and its cities reemerging as a vital center of economic activity and innovation.

In Detroit, young people have flooded the city in droves for the past decade, drawn in by dirt-cheap real estate and the notion that the city is a blank canvas with huge potential. For a fraction of the cost of other cities, twentysomethings can own a home and devote considerable time to their labors of love.

The numbers don’t lie: 19% of Detroit’s population comprises 25-34-year-olds. Industries have rebounded with this influx of young professionals, as well. On average, over 100 restaurants are opening each year, new housing is being built, and the city has added 11,000 jobs since 2010.

Michigan is once again a destination of promise and opportunity, and the future is only looking brighter.

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.