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Utah Best Environment For Small Businesses

Utah's rankings on a map.
thumbtack.com

According to a recent survey, Utah excels as the most small-business-friendly state in the nation. The third annual study from thumbtack.com, an online marketplace for local services, and the Kaufmann Foundation surveyed more than 12,000 entrepreneurs nationwide.

John Lieber, chief economist of thumbtack.com, said the study looked at environmental aspects that create a helpful working partnership with state and local governments.

“We do this because part of our mission is to help our small business users succeed and part of that is understanding what makes government work for them, to help governments work better,” said Lieber.

Small businesses in Utah were the most optimistic in the nation about the outlook for their state economy.

The survey rated 82 cities with metrics including overall friendliness, ease of starting a business and other dimensions regarding government-business relations such as tax codes, regulations and licensing. Lieber said Utah claimed the top spot for the second year in a row for the best overall environment.

“The economy is strong there, which I think is very helpful when asking small businesses how they feel about the local area,” said Morgan. “Utah’s labor regulations are friendly so it’s easy to hire new workers, and Utah did very well in both the level of regulations and also Utah offers a lot of training and networking programs, which really matter to our service professionals.”

Utah earned a “top five” spot in every graded category except for the visibility of its training programs, which was mid-pack in the survey.

For more information on the Utah statistics of the study, visit the website.

Taylor Halversen is a reporter, engineer and occasional co-host for UPR news. She recently graduated summa cum laude from Utah State University with bachelor’s degrees in Communication Studies and Liberal Arts, and worked for UPR as a reporting intern for a year before being hired as a reporter.