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Houston ranks among best U.S. metros to start a small business, per report

This is a Houston resident's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

Houstonians whose New Year's resolution is to start their own small business will be happy to learn they're in the right city to do it. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land has been ranked among the 25 best metropolitan areas to start a small business in a new report.

The report by personal finance website The Credit Review placed Houston in the No. 22 spot, touting the city's rapid growth, its diverse economy, and its ever-expanding population as several attractive reasons for its rank.

Small business owners in Houston specifically thrive in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sectors, the report found. Houston has proved its big on business, as several major employers have invested in the city while earning high recognition for their efforts in improving the workplace atmosphere for employees.

With the shift to remote work, it's now much easier for Houston residents to launch their business than ever before, the report claims. But in order to ensure longevity with a small business, the study suggests launching the venture in a place with the right number of resources and connections.

"The more resources a small business owner has, the better chances they have to succeed," the report says. "This is why, despite the overall shift to a remote-centric world, geographic location matters more than ever for a small business’s long-term success."

Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown earned the gold medal as the No. 1 metro for starting a small business. The Central Texas region is also the No. 1 hotspot for businesses in the information services sector, and the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry.

Another thriving Texas metro that earned a spot in the top 10 is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, claiming the No. 8 spot. Elsewhere in Texas, San Antonio-New Braunfels ranked below Houston as No. 32.

The top 10 U.S. metros for starting a small business are:

No. 1 – Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, Texas
No. 2 – Provo-Orem, Utah
No. 3 – Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina
No. 4 – Salt Lake City, Utah
No. 5 – Boise, Idaho
No. 6 – Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee
No. 7 – Jacksonville, Florida
No. 8 – Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
No. 9 – Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, North Carolina-South Carolina
No. 10 – North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida

The report analyzed the top 100 U.S. metro regions across 10 factors to determine the rankings, including unemployment rates, growth rates, new business success rates, and more.

The full report can be found on thecreditreview.com.

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up, up, and away

8 more Houston Walmart stores now offering drone delivery

Courtesy of Walmart

Walmart is bringing drone delivery to Houston.

More Walmart delivery drones are now buzzing around Houston-area skies.

In January, Walmart launched its drone delivery service in partnership with Wing at five locations in the Houston area. The retail giant just added eight more stores to its Houston-area drone delivery network.

Wing says the expansion makes drone delivery available to more than one million residents of the Houston area. “Many can now bypass notorious Houston traffic to get everyday Walmart essentials delivered by drone in minutes,” Wing said in a release.

The eight Walmart stores that joined the drone delivery network are:

13003 Tomball Pkwy. Houston
12353 FM 1960 Rd. West, Houston
2901 Riley Fuzzel Rd., Spring
20310 U.S. Highway 59, New Caney
1025 Sawdust Rd., Spring, TX 77380
13484 Northwest Fwy., Houston, TX
13750 East Fwy., Houston
3506 Highway 6 South, Houston

Stores where drone delivery was already available are:

14215 FM 2100 Rd., Crosby
1313 N. Fry Rd., Katy
15955 FM 529 Rd., Houston
255 FM 518, Kemah
6060 N. Fry Rd., Katy

Houstonians can learn whether their address is eligible for drone delivery from a Walmart store by visiting wing.com/walmart. Drone-delivered orders can be placed on the Walmart app, the Wing app, or at Walmart.com.

Once an order is ready, it’s loaded onto a delivery drone. The drone then flies up to 60 mph and at a cruising altitude of about 150 feet to reach the customer’s home. The average flight takes less than five minutes.

Once it arrives at the customer’s home, the drone stops, hovers at roughly 23 feet, and lowers the order via a tether. Wing says its drones gently lower orders to the ground to protect fragile items like eggs and coffee.

A Wing drone needs a small area about the size of a picnic table — and free of bushes, trees, and other overhead obstacles — to drop off an order.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, owns Wing.

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