The City Beautiful was recently ranked as the second-best large city in the country in which to start a business, edging out several other Florida cities that were among the top 10.
Earlier this week, Orlando took the second spot in WalletHub’s 2026 Best Large Cities to Start a Business.
In order to create the list, WalletHub compared startup opportunities in 100 U.S. cities across three key dimensions: Business Environment, Access to Resources, and Business Costs. The dimensions were evaluated using 19 different metrics, including the five-year business survival rate, labor costs, and office-space affordability, to name a few.
Orlando ranked #1 in Business Environment, #48 in Access to Resources, and #33 in Business Costs, according to the ranking list.
Specifically, WalletHub pointed out that the number of small businesses in Orlando has grown at a faster rate than most other cities. Orlando is also one of the top cities on the Kauffman Early-State Entrepreneurship Index, meaning that startups in The City Beautiful tend to have a high survival rate.
“One of the reasons why startups are so prevalent and successful in Orlando is that the city has a very high number of investors per capita, so new businesses are able to get the funding that they need to survive and thrive,” says WalletHub.
Orlando also has one of the highest growth rates for the “working-age population,” which provides local businesses with plenty of potential new employees.
Five of the top 10 spots on WalletHub’s list were taken by cities in the Sunshine State, with Tampa earning the #1 rank. Jacksonville was third, followed by Hialeah (#4), St. Petersburg (#5), and Miami (#10).
For more information on resources for small businesses in Orlando, visit the city of Orlando Business Incentives webpage.
To read the complete list of cities, visit the WalletHub 2026 Best Large Cities to Start a Business webpage.