Usually, during recessions like this one, the number of small business rises. For some reason, however, the number of small businesses in Charlotte didn't even hold steady last year -- it dropped.
Charlotte has fallen precipitously in a national ranking of best places to start a business, according to a Portfolio.com/bizjournals study.The Queen City dropped to No. 31 from No. 2 in 2009.
Rankings were based on criteria that included growth in population, employment and small businesses. According to the research, the number of small businesses in Charlotte declined to 27.07 per 1,000 residents in 2007 from 27.15 per 1,000 in 2006.
While that isnt a large drop, 80 of the 100 metropolitan areas in the study either saw an increase or didnt decline as much.
Read the rest of this Charlotte Business Journal article here.