From Staff Reports 

Asheville recently was named one of the best cities in America in which to start a business.

Specifically, the city has been rated the second-best in a ranking of “Startup Cities” in the country, based on its growing craft beer industry, the chamber’s entrepreneurship initiative and the region’s one-of-a-kind, nature-based business incubator, according to a national publication.

Asheville was led only by St. Louis. The other 12 cities that made the list include Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Me.; Baltimore, Md.; Holyoke, Mass.; Boulder, Colo.; Reno, Nev.; Des Moines, Iowa; Cleveland, Ohio; Urbana, Ill.; Queens, N.Y.; Detroit, Mich.; and Austin, Texas.

“No disrespect to places like Brooklyn and San Francisco, the early adopters of the startup economy,” editors at Popular Mechanics magazine noted in the February edition.

“But we wanted to identify the next wave, cities building an ecosystem – or revising an existing one – to turn innovators into entrepreneurs. Cities with makerspaces, shared work spaces, business incubators and accelerators, cheap rent, supportive elected officials and colleges, great restaurants, and craft breweries. And most importantly, young, fearless strivers who want to define their own future,” 

The magazine’s editors praised Asheville for being “awash in startup breweries.” Other shout-outs included the Accelerating Appalachia incubator and Venture Asheville.

“As you make your way past the art galleries and restaurants downtown, catching whiffs of pine (and weed), you may wish you could move here, which is what so many entrepreneurs have already done.

“Asheville’s status as a sweet college town and haven for neo-hippies isn’t fading; it’s just changing to reflect the influx of people who see no harm in making a little money,” the article states.