For decades, small-business growth revolved around a relatively short list of places: Silicon Valley, New York, and Austin. If you wanted to build a company, conventional wisdom held that you needed to be where the investors, talent, and startup infrastructure already existed.

That assumption is beginning to break down.

Increasingly, entrepreneurs aren't simply deciding what kind of business they want to build. They're also deciding where they want to build it and what kind of life they want that business to support.

GoDaddy's 2026 Most Entrepreneurial Cities report, produced for the first time in partnership with Zillow, found entrepreneurial growth accelerating across a broader and more geographically diverse mix of cities. San Antonio claimed the top spot, followed by Tampa, El Paso, and Albuquerque — markets that have historically sat outside the country's traditional startup conversation.

The rankings are notable. Texas, Florida, and New Mexico together accounted for half the list, reflecting a combination of business-friendly policies, migration patterns that continue to reshape where Americans are choosing to live and work , and, in the case of Texas and Florida, the absence of a state personal income tax.

Digital businesses, remote work, and more geographically flexible business models have fundamentally changed what entrepreneurs need from a city. The rankings themselves aren’t the biggest story. The more interesting question is why the geography of entrepreneurship is changing at all.

Entrepreneurship Is No Longer Tied To A Zip Code

One of the biggest misconceptions about entrepreneurship today is that starting a business still looks the way it did a decade ago.

"The biggest misconception is assuming that these entrepreneurs are all running traditional brick-and-mortar shops or tech startups," says Alexandra Rosen, GoDaddy's Small Business Economist. "Today's small business data shows the shift toward digital-only ventures, remote side gigs, and hybrid models, without needing a permanent storefront."

That evolution has fundamentally changed the relationship between entrepreneurship and place.

When businesses can be launched, managed, and scaled online, founders are no longer tethered to a handful of traditional startup hubs. Instead, many have greater freedom to prioritize affordability, quality of life, community, and access to talent while still serving customers across the country—and often around the world.

At the same time, the expansion of remote work has made geography more flexible for millions of Americans. As more professionals rethink where they want to live, entrepreneurs are increasingly asking the same question: not simply where they can build a business, but where they want that business to support the life they're trying to create.

Why Unexpected Cities Are Gaining Momentum

Affordability is part of the story, but according to Rosen, it isn't the deciding factor. The cities attracting entrepreneurs tend to combine business-friendly policies with strong local support systems.

“These top cities stand out for simplifying hurdles like permitting and registration, while fostering robust local networks and founder events,” explains Rosen. “When you combine that business-friendly environment with talent migration, remote work, and access to good internet, the barriers to entry drop.”

In other words, today's founders are evaluating entire ecosystems rather than simply chasing the lowest cost of living. Reliable infrastructure, skilled talent, supportive local networks, digital connectivity, and a growing pool of potential customers all influence where new businesses take root.

For many entrepreneurs, choosing a city is becoming less about following the traditional startup playbook and more about finding a place where it's easier to build a sustainable business over the long term. Increasingly, they're weighing business fundamentals alongside broader lifestyle considerations and asking what kind of place best supports both the business they want to build and the life they want to live .

Housing Is Becoming Part Of The Business Equation

Housing has traditionally been treated as a personal financial decision. Increasingly, for entrepreneurs, it's becoming a business one as well.

Every recurring expense influences how much capital remains available to invest elsewhere. Lower housing costs can free up resources for hiring, marketing, technology, inventory—or simply provide more runway during the uncertain early stages of building a business.

"Housing affordability directly impacts the quality and cost of your talent pool," says Kara Ng, Senior Economist at Zillow. "Where housing costs are more reasonable, it's easier to recruit and retain workers."

Zillow's data illustrates just how differently that plays out, even within the same region. San Antonio, El Paso, and Albuquerque all sit below the national average for home values, helping explain much of their affordability advantage. Miami and Tampa, by contrast, have above-average housing costs—a reminder that strong entrepreneurial activity and housing affordability don't always move together, even within the same Sun Belt growth corridor.

Lower housing costs also ripple through the broader economy.

"In an area where housing doesn't eat up the whole household budget, there's more disposable income flowing back into local businesses," adds Ng.

That observation broadens the conversation beyond founders themselves. Housing isn't simply about keeping personal expenses down. It influences hiring, customer spending power, business runway, and ultimately how sustainable a company can be over the long term.

The Geography Of Entrepreneurship Is Changing

This shift mirrors a broader change taking place across the American workforce. Remote work has given millions of professionals more control over where they live, and cities are competing more aggressively for new residents, founders, and investment as a result.

Increasingly, Americans are weighing where they can build a career, a business, and a life that aligns with both their financial goals and their quality-of-life priorities , rather than where convention says they should.

Zillow Chief Economist Mischa Fisher notes that " a thriving local economy and a thriving housing market tend to go hand in hand. When housing is attainable and plentiful, entrepreneurs feel more confident putting down roots, and businesses find it easier to attract and keep talent."

The result is a meaningfully different entrepreneurial landscape than the one that existed even a decade ago. Technology has made entrepreneurship more portable, while housing, affordability, and quality of life have become increasingly important competitive advantages for cities hoping to attract founders and small businesses.

The next generation of startup hubs may be defined less by proximity to Silicon Valley or Wall Street and more by places where founders can realistically afford to build both successful businesses and lives they genuinely want to live.