City of innovation

Houston earns top-10 rank among best U.S. cities for entrepreneurs

The Bayou City ranks highly thanks to a high quality-of-living score and more.

Courtesy photo

Houston joins Dallas and Austin in a new ranking of the 10 best U.S. cities for entrepreneurs to live.

Houston appears at No. 7 on the list, compiled by SumUp, which provides payment and banking services for businesses. In part, the Bayou City ranks well thanks to a high quality-of-living score. Houston also fares well due to the lack of a state income tax and state capital gains tax, and a state sales tax rate of 6.25 percent.

Here are the top 10 places in the U.S. for entrepreneurs to live, according to SumUp:

New York City
Chicago
Miami
Los Angeles
Dallas
Austin
Houston
Seattle
Washington, D.C.
Boston

SumUp, based in the United Kingdom, weighed 16 factors to come up with the ranking. These factors included tax rates, number of millionaires, internet speeds, and number of international airports.

Not surprisingly, the ranking factors featured a decidedly British slant. For instance, the ranking took into account Google and TikTok search volumes in the United Kingdom for “Moving to [city name].”

Of course, Houston offers more entrepreneurial advantages than the ones cited by SumUp. For example:

Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business ranks as the country’s No. 1 graduate entrepreneurship program, according to The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.
The University of Houston’s Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the C.T. Bauer College of Business ranks as the No. 1 undergraduate entrepreneurship program, according to The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.
The George W. Bush Presidential Center awarded Houston the No. 6 spot on its 2024 ranking of the top U.S. metro areas for university innovation.
A 2023 ranking from the LendingTree personal finance website put Houston in 13th place among the U.S. metro areas where minority entrepreneurs are enjoying the most success.

“Houston’s reputation for entrepreneurship is inextricably linked to the city’s diversity,” the Understanding Houston website notes. “The growing populations in Houston from diverse backgrounds, namely immigrants and people of color, are not only the economic and cultural driving force for the evolution of our city, but also the future of our country.”

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A version of this story originally appeared on our sister site InnovationMap.

entrepreneurs lists ranking

accessibility brings empowerment

Autonomous cab company cruises into Houston with wheelchair-accessible rides

Courtesy of Cruise

The six month program is available is more than 90 Houston-area ZIP codes.

A California company with autonomous cabs has announced a new pilot program in partnership with a provider of wheelchairs and mobility solutions.

Cruise has teamed up with Numotion for a six-month wheelchair-accessible vehicle (WAV) pilot program in Houston, offering free transportation for qualifying Numotion customers, according to the companies. The program will operate in over 90 Houston-area ZIP codes.

“Numotion is excited to partner with Cruise to offer a seamless and convenient solution for wheelchair users in the Houston area. By providing transportation to and from repair appointments, we're alleviating a significant stressor and providing a way for our customers to receive their service and repair faster,” says Mike Swinford, CEO of Numotion, in a news release. “We're constantly striving to innovate and improve the lives of our customers, and this collaboration demonstrates our ongoing commitment to providing beneficial customer experiences."

Cruise entered the Texas market last year, with Houston services launching in October 2023 before the company put all operations on pause following a California crash. This is the first Texas announcement for Cruise since the pause.

"Accessibility is core to our mission at Cruise. This pilot program with Numotion is doing more than providing accessible rides – it’s about empowering people in the community with greater mobility and independence, while also building learnings to better our service in the future," says Craig Glidden, president and chief administrative officer at Cruise about the new pilot.

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The story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.