RI Ranked 50th for Small Businesses

RI Ranked 50th for Small Businesses

The news for RI's economy hit another low with the report from Thumbtack.com and the Kaufman Foundation that ranked Rhode Island last in the country for small businesses. What is the sad news of the study is the methodology is driven by 6,000 interviews of small business people across the country. Texas, Idaho, Oklahoma and Utah were ranked in the study as the most small business-friendly states.

One Rhode Island small business person said, "There are no steps that are easy to find out that will help you find out how to start a small business."

Some of the key learnings reported in the study:

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Rhode Island earned an F overall for its showing as the nation's #1 least friendly state nationwide towards small businesses.

Surprisingly, women-owned small businesses in Rhode Island felt significantly more supported by the state than their male counterparts. Female entrepreneurs were 71% more likely than male entrepreneurs to rate Rhode Island as supportive or very supportive of small business.

This ranking comes on top of reports from CNBC, Forbes, Wall Street 24/7 and Chief Executive - all ranking Rhode Island among the worse states for business.