FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth is the second-friendliest city in the country for small businesses, according to a recent study.
San Francisco-based Thumbtack gave Fort Worth an "A+" ranking in its Small Business Friendliness Survey.
The ranking was good enough to land Cowtown in the runner-up position behind Austin on a list of 44 U.S. cities.
More than 5,000 small business owners filled out the surveys for the Thumbtack study, which asked about eight categories of small business friendliness: 1) ease of starting a business; 2) ease of hiring; 3) regulations; 4) employment, labor and hiring; 5) tax code; 6) licensing; 7) training and networking programs and 8) government websites.
Thumbtack, which pairs professionals with jobs, gave Fort Worth a "B-" grade or better in six of the eight categories.
The two areas where Fort Worth slipped in the evaluation were for "ease of hiring," where the city received a "C-," and "training and networking programs," where the city earned a "D+."
Fort Worth and Austin weren't the only Texas cities to earn a high ranking from the survey respondents. Houston earned an "A" to rank No. 4, while Dallas ranked at No. 27 with a "B-".
Texas as a whole earned an "A" grade in the rankings, while finishing No. 4 nationwide with 69% of small businesses feeling generally positive in April 2019.
You can see rankings across the U.S. by clicking here.
