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 Boston earned D's for the cost of hiring additional employees and for its regulatory friendliness. However, small businesses give the city a 'B+' for its networking programs.
Some of the key findings for Boston include:
- Small business owners gave Boston a D+ for the friendliness of its tax code.
- Metro Boston is the state's stand-out region, receiving #1 rankings for 8 of the 17 categories rated by small businesses. In contrast, Southeastern Massachusetts fails along multiple dimensions, receiving the lowest ranking for a variety of categories - the region has the state's least-friendly regulations and has the state's least healthy small businesses. Small businesses rated Central/Western Massachusetts as being the state's #1 least-costly for hiring a new employee.
