Utah ranks among the top three easiest states nationwide for starting a small business and among
the top four friendliest states in the country toward small business, according to a new survey.
The survey also indicates that women who own small businesses in Utah feel less supported than
their male counterparts.
More than 6,000 business owners nationwide participated in the survey, done by the Kauffman
Foundation in conjunction with Thumbtack.com, a site where people hire local photographers,
tutors, carpenters and more.
More than a quarter-million businesses list their services on Thumbtack.com, "and we wanted to
determine what the most important issues for them were. Now that we've conducted the survey,
we hope to use the data to help promote policies that help small business and entrepreneurship.
Utah's ranking is great news for Utah and its small business community. Small businesses
throughout Utah clearly felt well-supported by their state and local governments."
Among the nationwide surprises unearthed by the survey was "that small businesses cared almost
twice as much about professional licensing regulations as they did about tax rates," he said. "For
example, an entrepreneur generally thought their state was friendly if it was simple to get
licensed and if licensing regulations were evenly applied to all businesses in that industry. Utah
excelled in this category -- Utah had the No. 5 friendliest professional licensing regulations of
any state in the country."
Utah's business-friendly attitude likely is playing a part in the state's relatively low
unemployment rate, Daniels said. He pointed out that according to the Small Business
Administration, small businesses accounted for 65 percent of the new jobs created between 1993
and 2009 and employ nearly half of all private sector employees. Daily Herald
