By Parija Kavilanz @CNNMoney August 19, 2015: 1:44 PM ET
4. Austin, Texas
4 of 10
4
The Lone Star State's capital city has consistently been in Thumbtack's top four cities to start a business.
Entrepreneurs gave it an "A+" for how easy it is to get a business off the ground and said networking opportunities are plentiful and taxes are low.
"Small businesses here have an upper hand right now because the community is aware and conscious of how important it is to shop local first," a piano instructor in Austin wrote.
Another business owner said Texas makes it easy for small businesses "by not having [income] tax."
If there's an area for improvement, it's this: "Filing for state licenses is like pulling teeth. Nothing is laid out and you must go on a scavenger hunt," said the owner of a cleaning service.
First published August 19, 2015: 1:44 PM ET
Methodology: Thumbtack polled its users in December 2014; 18,000 small businesses in its database of 150,000 active monthly users responded. Entrepreneurs from all 50 states replied, but the ranking excluded 14 states that didn't meet the threshold of receiving at least 50 responses.
