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. Alaska
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- 2012 startup rate: 430 per 100,000 adults
Alaska may be icy cold, but it enjoys a brisk entrepreneurial climate too.
"Alaska still lacks many services that are available in the rest of the United States," said Rachel Petro, president and CEO of Alaska's Chamber of Commerce. As a result, there's lots of potential to introduce products and services from the mainland.
Niche businesses that cater to Alaska's robust tourism industry do particularly well here. Think bed & breakfasts, food and craft stores, and restaurants.
Cities like Anchorage are helping encourage the startup scene by offering $13.2 million in loans to small businesses.
But doing business in Alaska isn't cheap: Labor, transportation, and shipping costs are high compared to other states. Those expenses are partly offset, though, by the state's low business taxes and lack of income or sales taxes, Petro added.
Source: 2013 Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, published by the Kauffman Foundation. The 2012 startup rate for each state is based on a yearly national survey of about half a million people -- adults aged 20 to 64 who start a business each month with 15 or more hours worked. In Montana, for example, Kauffman found that 530 of every 100,000 adults started businesses in 2012.
- Last updated June 20 2013 11:48 AM ET
