• The coronavirus recession started in February, and small businesses have been hit especially hard.
• Many entrepreneurs, like Mark Cuban, see the disruption as a business opportunity.
• Business Insider evaluated all 50 states based on longer-term growth, diversity, and economic trends to find out which are the 10 best bets for small businesses to succeed.
• By our measure, Texas dominated the ranking with its phenomenal growth rate on a huge number of small businesses.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Small businesses have been hit especially hard in the coronavirus recession, which experts say began in February 2020. Even though the longest economic expansion in US history is over, entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban see this disruption as an opportunity to start a business.

Business Insider evaluated long-term trends in all 50 states to find out which will be the best places for entrepreneurs and business owners in the coming year, in spite of the current crisis.

Using data from the US Small Business Administration, in conjunction with analyses from Office Depot and MoneyPenny, we analyzed past growth, diversity, and economic trends to find out which are the 10 best bets for small businesses to succeed.

First, we ranked all states by the growth rate in the number of small businesses from 2016 to 2018. Then, we filtered out states that showed a decline in women- and minority-owned businesses from 2014 to 2016. (Ideally those time-frames would match, but that’s the data we have.)

As a result of this approach, many midwestern states that are home to Business Insider’s best cities to live in after the pandemic were filtered out, including several states that fared relatively well under the Paycheck Protection Program.

As we have previously reported, women- and minority-owned businesses are an important indicator of the overall health of the economy, and represent a significant opportunity for growth. A report from American Express found women are more likely than business owners in general to identify a need within a market and start a company to fill it.

Finally, we referred to the SBA’s State Profiles to provide a snapshot of what’s happening for small businesses in our top-ranked states.

Continue reading to see the 10 best US states where we think small businesses will come back strong in 2020.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/top-ten-us-states-for-small-business-to-grow-in-2020