Survey findings and summary
After a two-month survey of over 6,000 small business owners nationwide, Thumbtack.com has released new data showing that small businesses gave Chicago low marks, including a 'D' for its licensing requirements and regulations.
Some of the key findings for Chicago include:
- Chicago earned an 'A-' for its networking programs, placing it in the top-ten cities nationally.
- Metro Chicago is the state's stand-out region, receiving #1 rankings for 4 of the 17 categories rated by small businesses. In contrast, Western Illinois fails along multiple dimensions, receiving the lowest ranking for a variety of categories - the region has the state's #1 least-friendly licensing regulations and has the state's #1 least-healthy small businesses. Small businesses rated Southern Illinois as being the state's easiest region for starting a business, but the region's businesses were also the state's second-least healthy economically.
