Colorado businesses are among the top ten most optimistic nationwide about their economic future, a survey released today said.
The Small Business Survey said Colorado’s small business owners are “very optimistic about their economic future.”
Thumbtack, in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, said more than 6,000 small business owners nationwide were contacted in an effort to determine the best places to do business.
“For small businesses looking for a place to hang a shingle or to plant a flag — they can’t do much better than Colorado,” said Sander Daniels, co-founder of .
The state received an overall ranking of B+ across multiple categories for doing business, the report said.
Within the state, the Front Range ranked best and the Eastern Plains the worst.
Statewide, the survey ranked Colorado as a B+ in the following categories: Overall friendliness; ease of starting a business; hiring costs; regulations; employment, labor and hiring; tax code; and licensing.
However, the state rated a D+ for training programs and a C for networking programs.
The survey noted that although Colorado ranked well in a variety of categories, the state’s small businesses are struggling when compared with those in other western states.
“Colorado’s small businesses were the fourth least healthy and the fifth slowest growing in the West,” said the survey.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter@HowardPankratz
