Starting a Business in 2023? Stats Show New York is a Brutal Place to Do It

A new calendar year brings new opportunities along with it. There are some who will look to exercise more and lose weight, while others will try to pick up a new hobby, or connect with friends and family more than they did in the past 365 days.

Still others, however, will try something on a much larger scale, like opening a new business. If that description fits you, and you want to open one in New York, statistics show that it might be wise to start looking elsewhere to plant your roots.

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WalletHub Shares Stats on Starting a New Business in New York

A report from WalletHub used financial statistics to assess which U.S. states are ripe for opening a new business, and which states should be avoided. The experts at WalletHub measured the 50 states across 27 key indicators, and generated state rankings from 1-50.

Through their calculations, New York was given a "total score" of 46.10, ranking them as the 31st-best state in which one could open a new business. Here was where New York ranked in some of the main criteria points, per WalletHub's Diana Polk:

• 41^st – Avg. Growth in Number of Small Businesses
• 47^th – Office-Space Affordability
• 37^th – Labor Costs
• 5^th – Availability of Human Capital
• 39^th – Avg. Length of Work Week (in Hours)
• 36^th – Cost of Living
• 27^th – Industry Variety
• 7^th – Percentage of Residents Who Are Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19

New York is a tale of two states when it comes to financial viability of a new business. It was ranked as having the 5th-best access to resources of any state in the union, but was also ranked 47th for business costs. That all led to the overall ranking of 31st, proving that in the Empire State, a business owner has to weigh the good with the bad in order to be successful in the long-term.

Here are how other states around New York ranked in terms of their viability for new businesses to grow:

• Massachusetts: 19th
• Vermont: 33rd
• Connecticut: 49th
• New Jersey: 47th
• Pennsylvania: 44th
• New Hampshire: 39th

Of course, a savvy businessperson can grow a business in virtually any type of environment, and thousands of start-ups will succeed in 2023. If you believe the statistics, however, it will be tougher sledding in New York to be successful than in 60% of the other states in the country.