Bluevine ranked Colorado Springs first in a new list of U.S. small-business metros, with its own customer account activity supplying 30% of scores across 100 metropolitan areas.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial placed second, Raleigh-Cary was third and Greeley ranked 12th. Bluevine said Colorado was the only state with three metros in the top 15. The company announced the results Thursday, Oct. 15.
The monthlong analysis used information from more than 200,000 active Bluevine accounts and compared the 100 U.S. metros where the company had the most accounts. Business survival and growth each made up 25% of a metro’s score, while operating costs accounted for 20%. Bluevine’s own account measures supplied the remaining 30%.
Bluevine said it applied a proportional penalty to metros that ranked 51st through 100th in any of the four datasets. Its stated survival measures were one- and five-year business survival rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
For growth, Bluevine cited business applications from the U.S. Census Bureau, small-business density and 7(a) loan density from the Small Business Administration (SBA), and BLS employment rates. Cost measures included Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) regional price parities, Census median individual income and BLS income growth. Bluevine said its account measures tracked customer use per small business and year-over-year changes in account openings and balances.
The company reported that its Colorado Springs accounts increased 133% year over year. Because its account measures contributed 30% of the score, the ranking combines public indicators with activity among Bluevine customers rather than counting every small business in each metro.
The Denver Business Journal quoted Robert Purcell, Bluevine’s head of communications, saying Colorado Springs scored better on five-year business survival than on the one-year measure. He said Denver’s results were more balanced across the two measures.
Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade said, “It belongs first and foremost to our entrepreneurs.”
