Back to list August 17, 2015 Camp Hill ranks in the Top 10 for Best Places to Start a Business in Pennsylvania Camp Hill is the tenth best place to start a business in Pennsylvania, according to a recent study conducted by personal finance data site, NerdWallet. Businesses in Camp Hill earn an average of $2.68 million per business annually, with about 17 businesses per 100 people and a 3.6 percent unemployment rate, the second lowest in the top-10 behind Wyomissing, which sported a 3.5 percent rate. For the study, Nerdwallet analyzed 145 places in Pennsylvania with a population of at least 5,000. Then data collected by the Census Bureau was used to calculate the data for each location based on the business climate and economic health. “The data were put into two buckets—first, the local business environment, through factors like average revenue per business, the number of businesses with employees vs. sole proprietorships, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, measured by number of businesses per 100 residents,” said Jonathan Todd, Nerdwallet’s economics writer, who wrote the piece. “Second, we measured the local economy through metrics like median incomes, housing costs and unemployment rate. Put these together, and you get a pretty good idea of where opportunities might exist for potential entrepreneurs.” The study included data from a few corporate headquarters, including Rite Aid Corporation, the engineering firm Gannett Fleming and Harsco Corporation, an industrial services company. All of the places listed in the top-10 are smaller communities outside of larger metropolitan areas, such as West Mifflin, Latrobe, Uniontown and Greensburg, which are four communities found on the list near Pittsburgh. Others include Moosic, just outside of Scranton, and Media, a borough outside of Philadelphia. West Mifflin placed first on the list. “We find that smaller cities that have healthy local economies, with low unemployment rates and affordable housing, do well,” Todd said. “With plenty of jobs and consumers willing to spend money, healthy local environments make it significantly easier for entrepreneurs to succeed. We also find that many of the top cities are closely connected to larger metros, though, likely because business owners can take advantage of strong local markets, but also be economically connected to larger centers of commerce, as well. Read the rest of the article from the Sentinel here.
