?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Open a storefront · United States

Best cities to open a storefront in the US

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Open a storefront” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on median household income, businesses per 1k residents, avg. weekly wage, crime index. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

Re-rank for your priorities
Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Chesapeake, VA253k residents

    70/100

    median household income: $95,373 · avg. weekly wage: $1,161/wk · sales tax: 5.75%

  2. 2.Virginia Beach, VA456k residents

    68/100

    median household income: $87,000 · avg. weekly wage: $1,154/wk · sales tax: 6%

  3. 3.Frisco, TX219k residents

    67/100

    median household income: $150,212 · avg. weekly wage: $1,307/wk · sales tax: 8.2%

  4. 4.Newport News, VA184k residents

    67/100

    median household income: $69,634 · avg. weekly wage: $1,365/wk · sales tax: 5.75%

  5. 5.Salem, OR179k residents

    67/100

    median household income: $75,487 · avg. weekly wage: $1,044/wk · sales tax: 0%

  6. 6.Naperville, IL151k residents

    66/100

    median household income: $155,105 · avg. weekly wage: $1,200/wk · sales tax: 8.85%

  7. 7.Norfolk, VA234k residents

    65/100

    median household income: $66,109 · avg. weekly wage: $1,445/wk · sales tax: 5.75%

  8. 8.Jersey City, NJ294k residents

    64/100

    median household income: $97,710 · avg. weekly wage: $1,903/wk · sales tax: 6.6%

  9. 9.Madison, WI278k residents

    64/100

    median household income: $74,000 · avg. weekly wage: $1,486/wk · sales tax: 5.5%

  10. 10.Arlington, VA236k residents

    64/100

    median household income: $142,114 · avg. weekly wage: $2,519/wk · sales tax: 5.75%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best to open a storefront in the US?
Chesapeake, VA ranks first with a fit score of 70/100, followed by Virginia Beach (68) and Frisco (67), using the "Open a storefront" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on median household income, businesses per 1k residents, avg. weekly wage, crime index, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.