Atlanta, Georgia, is an entrepreneurship paradise, a thriving city in which state business licenses are streamlined, the population is well-educated, and there are numerous tax rebates for startups (entrepreneurship.com).
Atlanta is home to several highly popular and successful local businesses and universities, and also provides one of the lowest cost of living and the highest quality of life. If you are looking to tour or join a community that supports over 250,000 tech industry workers and over 13,000 local small business industries (Business Insider), this is the perfect place for you.
Atlanta Business Facts:
- There are 9.8 businesses per 100 residents
- The average income is $35,884
- Over 30.9% of businesses owned in the city are African - American owned, 33.4% woman-owned (2007 Census)
- Coca-Cola was founded here over a century ago
- Cell Constructs, Lucena Research, TripLingo, and many other successful businesses have started and thrived in AtL.
Here are the 4 main reasons Atlanta is great for entrepreneurs:
Low Cost of Living -
Atlanta holds one of the lowest cost of living standings when it comes to budding business and tech towns, sitting at a comfortable 95 on the Cost Of Living Index (Forbes). A lower cost of living means that there are lower operating costs for new businesses, making it much easier to quickly grow and become more successful.
Transportation -
Atlanta Skyline Shutterstock
This may seem like an odd point to include for top reasons Atlanta makes a great Entrepreneurship city, but the convenient transportation within the city saves so much business travel costs, and allows budding business owners to get to and from work faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. One of the busiest airports in the world, Hartsfield-Jackson International, calls this area home, and the in-city MARTA bus and railway system are considered to be the town’s ‘secret weapon’ when it comes to business transport. This is especially important when factoring in that Atlanta was considered to be the fastest-growing urban area in the U.S with a 20.5% population growth between 2000 and 2006.
There are so many tech hubs, centers, industries, and renowned schools here that it is almost a permanent fixture for young entrepreneurs. In 2012 the city of Atlanta established the Atlanta Technology Village, housing over 13,000 tech businesses. At&t, CNN, and Damballa are just a few mention-worthy, though the entire area houses over 250,000 tech workers.
Education/Talent -
The education options, highly educated population and diverse talent pool within Atlanta also draw a major following of prospective entrepreneurs, each thing literally making this city a breeding ground for big business. Students can attend Georgia State University, Emory University, or Georgia Tech University while here, while the general population already ranks at 46.1% already having a bachelor’s degree.
All of these things together make Atlanta the thriving ‘tech incubator’ it is today, highly tech-savvy and business inclusive. Below are some specific entrepreneurship tours you and your group can take to get a better look at Atlanta business.
Tours:
- Tomorrow Tour - Annual technology and innovation conference and city tour
- Inside CNN - Go behind the scenes of one of the most successful businesses in town.
- World of Coca Cola - This tour is classic, an insider's look at one of the most successful businesses in the world.
- Atlanta Movie Tours - You can’t forget Hollywood when it comes to thriving local Atlanta businesses, many films and tv series shot here in town and ultimately contributing to city success.
