#1 in America: What Southern Utah's Stunning WalletHub Ranking Really Means for Entrepreneurs
Updated: Apr 8
St. George took the top spot. Cedar City took third. Washington City took fourth. Three of the top five small cities in America to start a business are forty-five minutes apart in the Utah desert. Here's the story behind the numbers.
The spreadsheet doesn't lie — but it doesn't tell the whole story either.
In April 2025, financial wellness company WalletHub published its annual ranking of the best and worst small cities in America to start a business. The methodology was rigorous: more than 1,300 cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 were evaluated across 18 key metrics, covering business environment, access to resources, and overall business costs. When the results were published, something extraordinary stood out. Three of the top five cities in the entire country were clustered in a single region of Utah — a stretch of high desert, red rock canyon country, and small-town Main Streets that most of America associates with retirement communities and national park tourism, not entrepreneurship.
St. George took first place. Cedar City, a forty-five minute drive north on Interstate 15, claimed third. Washington City, tucked between them in Washington County, landed fourth. (WalletHub, "Best & Worst Small Cities to Start a Business," 2025)
For anyone paying attention to what's been quietly building in Southern Utah over the past decade, the ranking felt less like a surprise and more like long-overdue confirmation.
What the Data Actually Says
WalletHub's analysts didn't mince words about why St. George topped the list.
"St. George, UT, is the best small city for starting a business, ranking among the top cities in the country for both startups per capita and growth in the number of small businesses — nearly 46% between 2016 and 2022," the WalletHub report stated. (WalletHub, 2025) The city also boasts some of the cheapest office space in the nation, at approximately $10.73 per square foot — compared to nearly $62 per square foot in the most expensive American cities — and an average commute of under seventeen minutes. (WalletHub, 2025) Job growth, meanwhile, is among the highest of any small city in the country.
Cedar City's numbers are nearly as impressive. According to WalletHub's findings, Cedar City "has one of the highest rates of startups per capita, as well as the fifth-highest growth in the number of small businesses between 2016 and 2022, at nearly 39%." (WalletHub, 2025) That growth is particularly notable, the report emphasized, because it held steady through a period of significant national economic difficulty — a sign not just of initial momentum, but of durability.
Together, these numbers paint a picture of a region that has been quietly transforming its economic identity, largely below the national radar. The question worth asking is: why here, and why now?
The People Behind the Numbers
For St. George Mayor Michele Randall, the ranking validated something she and her colleagues have been working toward for years.
"Our community's collaborative spirit and proactive approach to economic development make St. George an ideal place for small business success," Randall said in a statement following the WalletHub announcement. "This recognition by WalletHub serves as a testament to our ongoing efforts to foster innovation, support entrepreneurs and enhance the overall quality of life for our residents." (St. George Area Chamber of Commerce press release, April 2025)
Chad Thomas, St. George's Economic Development Director, echoed that sentiment — but with a candor that's worth noting.
"We work hard to create a business-friendly environment for our businesses, and we're really excited that we've gotten recognition for that," Thomas told reporters after the ranking was released. "Our heritage is that pioneer heritage — we like starting new things." (KSL NewsRadio, April 2025)
But Thomas also offered an honest admission that cuts against the triumphant headline: one of the biggest current challenges for St. George is actually a shortage of available commercial space. The region's rapid population and business growth has tightened real estate supply even as prices remain comparatively low. "Exit 2 is really going to be where a lot of growth and announcements that you're going to see have already happened or are going to continue to happen," Thomas said, pointing to new development underway on the south side of the city. (KSL NewsRadio, April 2025)
In Cedar City, David Johnson, the city and Iron County's Economic Development Director, placed the WalletHub recognition in the context of something deeper than a business metric.
"In Cedar City and greater Iron County, we are dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and business development," Johnson said. "We have many great resources and partnerships that offer business owners the support they need, like our Business and Innovation Center, Chamber of Commerce, grant opportunities, and more." (St. George News, April 2025)
But Johnson was also frank about what has historically held Southern Utah back — and what this moment represents for communities like his.
"So often in these historically rural communities, people live and work here and their kids have to move away," he said. "And then they work for years to come back. They're looking for opportunities to come back. They're looking for opportunities to live here, be educated here and continue to work here throughout those multi-generations." (KSL NewsRadio, April 2025)
That generational brain drain — the quiet exodus of Southern Utah's best and brightest toward Salt Lake City and beyond — is the backdrop against which every conversation about entrepreneurship and economic development in this region takes place. The WalletHub ranking matters not just as a feather in the cap of local officials, but as a signal that the tide may be turning.
A Region, Not Just a City
Perhaps the most significant detail in the WalletHub story isn't that St. George ranked number one. It's that three cities in the same region — within a forty-five-minute drive of each other — all cracked the top five simultaneously.
That doesn't happen by accident.
It reflects a regional economic identity that has been intentionally cultivated through cooperation rather than competition. Thomas and Johnson have spoken openly about the collaborative relationship between their cities, part of a broader effort to establish Southern Utah as a unified regional market in the western United States.
"Down here in southern Utah — Cedar City, St. George, Hurricane, Washington City — a lot of us are always playing a shell game of who's number one as the small city to start a business in the country," Johnson said with a laugh. "We have a really good relationship with our communities here in southern Utah." (KSL NewsRadio, April 2025)
That cooperative spirit is one of the harder things to quantify in a spreadsheet — and one of the most important advantages Southern Utah has over regions where cities compete against each other rather than building together. When St. George wins, Cedar City benefits. When Cedar City attracts a new business, it builds the regional talent pool that St. George companies can draw from. And when Washington City grows, the entire corridor strengthens.
Infrastructure has followed that cooperation. Tech Ridge — a 180-acre mixed-use innovation hub built on the former site of the St. George Airport — has become the most visible symbol of the region's ambitions, attracting software companies like Vasion and Zonos and serving as an anchor for a growing tech ecosystem. Dixie Technical College anchors the workforce development side. Utah Tech University has doubled down on entrepreneurship programming. And at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, the Larry H. and Gail Miller Center for Entrepreneurship — backed by a $2.1 million endowment from the Miller Family Foundation — is producing a new generation of founders who are increasingly choosing to build in the region where they were educated. (Southern Utah University)
What the Ranking Doesn't Capture
For all its strengths, the WalletHub ranking has limits — and the most honest conversations in Southern Utah acknowledge them.
Capital access remains a real challenge. The venture capital ecosystem in St. George and Cedar City, while growing, is still nascent compared to Salt Lake City or other major markets. Founders who need to raise significant outside investment often find themselves making the drive north or pitching investors who have little familiarity with Southern Utah's business environment.
Talent is the other persistent friction point. Ask founders and company leaders in the region what keeps them up at night, and many will point to recruiting. The very affordability and quality of life that Southern Utah offers can be a tough sell for skilled workers accustomed to the cultural amenities of larger cities. Companies like Vasion and Zonos have invested heavily in the region's universities precisely because they've learned that growing local talent is more reliable than trying to recruit it from elsewhere.
And then there's the space constraint Thomas alluded to — a genuine bottleneck as demand for commercial real estate in the region has outpaced supply in certain areas. Development is underway, but it takes time.
None of these challenges negate what the WalletHub ranking represents. They contextualize it. Southern Utah is not a finished product. It is a region in the middle of a transformation — one that is moving faster than most people outside of it realize, but that still has significant work ahead.
The Bigger Picture
The most important number in the WalletHub report may not be any single metric. It may be the 46 percent growth in small businesses in St. George between 2016 and 2022 — a stretch of time that included a global pandemic, supply chain crises, and one of the most turbulent economic periods in recent memory.
That growth didn't happen because St. George got lucky. It happened because a region that spent generations watching its people leave finally started building the infrastructure, the culture, and the collaborative spirit to give them a reason to stay.
"This recognition from WalletHub for Cedar City and some of our neighbors is just a demonstration of what's happening here in the business climate — the positive business climate in southern Utah that is only going to continue to grow," Johnson said. (KSL NewsRadio, April 2025)
He's right. The numbers say so. And increasingly, so do the founders.
Sources: WalletHub, "Best & Worst Small Cities to Start a Business," 2025; St. George Area Chamber of Commerce press release, April 2025; KSL NewsRadio, April 2025; St. George News, April 2025; Southern Utah University.
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