Startup activity improves in Prov. metro, R.I.

THE PROVIDENCE-NEW BEDFORD-Fall River metropolitan area ranked 34th out of 40 metropolitan areas for startup activity, an improvement of four spots from last year, according to the 2015 Kauffman Index. / COURTESY KAUFFMAN INDEX
THE PROVIDENCE-NEW BEDFORD-Fall River metropolitan area ranked 34th out of 40 metropolitan areas for startup activity, an improvement of four spots from last year, according to the 2015 Kauffman Index. / COURTESY KAUFFMAN INDEX

PROVIDENCE – The Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metropolitan area ranked 34th out of 40 metropolitan areas for startup activity, an improvement of four spots from last year, according to the 2015 Kauffman Index.
The Providence metro had a .17 percent rate for new entrepreneurs – or 170 new entrepreneurs a month per 100,000 adults.
It’s the only New England metropolitan area in the ranking after Boston-Cambridge-Quincy-Mass.-N.H., which ranked 22nd in the nation compared with 31st in 2014. The metropolitan area of Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos-Texas ranked first in the nation for 2015.
Rhode Island overall was 30th among the states for its .20 percent rate of new entrepreneurs. The Ocean State climbed seven spots from last year. It also has an 88 percent “opportunity share,” which measures the percentage of new entrepreneurs not coming out of unemployment. Opportunity share in the Providence metro was 79.3 percent, according to the index.
Among the states, Montana ranked first, unchanged from last year, for a .54 percent rate of new entrepreneurs. Last was Wisconsin, for .17 percent growth in new entrepreneurs. It was 45th last year.
Vermont placed the highest among New England states at fifth, an improvement from 12th last year, for .40 percent new entrepreneur growth, while Maine ranked 23rd, a drop of eight spots from last year, for its .29 percent rate. Massachusetts dropped one spot to 34th with .29 percent new entrepreneur growth, and Connecticut fell eight spots to 35th with .29 percent growth.
New Hampshire fell nine spots to 43rd; it had .25 percent new entrepreneur growth.
States’ startup density range in the 2015 Index fluctuated from 81.4 startups per 100,000 people in West Virginia to the high end of 244.7 startups per 100,000 people in North Dakota. In Rhode Island, it was 127 startups per 100,000 people, and 118.9 startups per 100,000 people in the Providence metro.
According to the Kaufman Index, startup activity increased in 32 of 50 states last year. Eighteen of the nation’s top 40 metropolitan areas also saw increases in new venture activity.
“There’s been an explosion of entrepreneurship programs and events across the country in recent years, and while we don’t fully understand their impact, last year’s rebound in new business creation is a good sign,” Dane Stangler, vice president of research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation, said in a statement. “State and local leaders need to understand how many startups they have in their regions and who’s starting them so they can make decisions on how to build on what they currently have.”

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