Worcester Gets an “F” for Small Business Friendliness

Friday, July 04, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Worcester has been trying to revitalize its downtown and attempted to bring more businesses into the city, but according to a new survey, the attempts haven’t proven fruitful.

According to thumbtack.com, in partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Worcester ranks as one of the worst cities in the nation for small business friendliness, receiving an “F” letter grade overall. Of the 11 categories that the city was ranked on, Worcester received 7 Fs, 3 Ds, and a D-.

"After a two-month survey of thousands of small business owners nationwide, the data show that Worcester business owners rate the city near the bottom," says Jon Lieber, Chief Economist of Thumbtack. "Creating a business climate that is welcoming to small, dynamic businesses is more important than ever, and Worcester is falling far short of this ideal."

The survey asked over 12,000 business owners their thoughts about business friendliness in their city to gather their results. Their methodology can be found here. This is the third year thumbtack.com has compiled these rankings, but this is the first year Worcester was ranked as a city.

Results

Worcester ranked out as the least friendly city for small businesses in Massachusetts and one of the least friendly in the nation.

According to the survey, Worcester is the worst city in the nation in regards to their small business tax regulations as well as the worst city for the friendliness of its training and networking programs.

Looking at Massachusetts as a whole, the state took a dip from last year’s ranking, decreasing from a C- to a D+ this year. Massachusetts ranks in the middle of the pack when looking at New England states as overall, the state ranks as the third least friendly state for small businesses.

“There are certainly things that we can do as a city to improve our business friendliness on several fronts,” said Tim Murray, President and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. “With that being said, I think that the city of Worcester has made improvements on several fronts. We are going to look at this report and analyze it further to see what we can learn from it.”

Looking to the Future

The results of the report startled Murray and the rest of the Chamber of Commerce, as they have been working hand-in-hand with small businesses throughout Worcester to help them further their brand in the city.

While acknowledging that there are things that the city needs to work on to improve, Murray says that there are many people, organizations, and businesses that are working to make opening a business in Worcester easier.

“There have been a lot of positive things that this city has done to become more business friendly,” said Murray. “We definitely need to look at the tax rates for the city, but I think that we have a lot of alliances and resources available to aid in helping to cultivate small businesses throughout the city. We have been looking at everything from tax incentives to improving parking and customer service to help make it easier for businesses in Worcester.”

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