Rochester Hills Recognized as One of the Best Small Cities to Start a Small Business

Among Top Ten in the U.S.

The City of Rochester Hills has been recognized as the #8 best small city in America in which to start a small business by Verizon Business.

The evaluation was based on six ranking factors including the education level of the local workforce, in-city commute times, income per capita, broadband access, availability of SBA loans, and overall tax friendliness for small businesses.

Rochester Hills prides itself on creating a positive environment for new business growth. For example, the city’s senior business executives, government officials and educational leaders have come together to identify economic strategies through the Mayor’s Business Council, created by Mayor Bryan K. Barnett. The Council provides an opportunity for the business community to gather on a regular basis and share their private sector insights and best practices. These meetings also give companies the opportunity to learn of high-level regional issues affecting their business environment.

“We’re thankful for this national recognition from Verizon. It validates that we’re doing all of the right things to make our city welcoming to small business,” states Manager of Economic Development, Pam Valentik. They’re the backbone of our economy are creating the next generation of jobs for our residents.”

In addition to being the robotic capital of North America, the city is home to an array of small businesses from retail to industrial including computer technology, electronic research, development and manufacturing, plastic injection molding, tool and die, precision machine tool fabrication, structural engineering, and warehousing and distribution.

Just last year the city welcomed seven new, high tech companies and helped many others expand their operations, resulting in hundreds of new and retained jobs and over $11 million in new investment. These companies are able to find young talent from a pool of local graduates from exceptional community school systems as well as Oakland University and Rochester College.

“Anytime you are recognized as being one of the best in the nation there is great pride. We have a fantastic team here in Rochester Hills led by our manager Pam Valentik and we are grateful for all of the small businesses who choose to do business in the city,” states Mayor Bryan K. Barnett.