ANN ARBOR, MI -- It appears that Michigan is one of the top states in the country when it comes to helping small businesses thrive.
According to a study released by Value Penguin, four Michigan cities ranked in the top-20 with Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids/Wyoming ranked 9th and 10th respectively.
East Lansing/Lansing tied for 18th and Kalamazoo/Portage came in at 20th in the country among the 200 metropolitan areas observed in the study.
The various regions were ranked based on how they compared to each other in the following categories: taxes, economy and business community. The study used data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Small Business Administration to rank the cities.
Specifically, the taxes section looked at average state and local tax rates along with small business taxes.
The economy section focused on the unemployment rate, median household income and cost of living.
Business community ranked the cities on the percentage of population over 25 with a Bachelor's degree, number of small businesses, number of mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers and number of corporate, subsidiary, and regional managing offices.
Ann Arbor ranked 29th in taxes, 40th in economy and 22nd in business community. Grand Rapids/Wyoming ranked 29th in taxes, 32nd in economy and 34th in business community.
East Lansing/Lansing ranked 29th in taxes, 87th in economy and 23rd in business economy. Kalamazoo/Portage finished 29th in taxes, 61st in economy and 53rd in business economy.
Also among Michigan cities on the list, Detroit/Dearborn ranked 61st and Flint came in at 112th.