Main Street Monday – Small Business Growth in Suburbia is Almost Triple than Downtown

October 10, 2022

Delaney Sexton
Contributing Editor

Main Street Monday – Small Business Growth in Suburbia is Almost Triple than Downtown

”Overall, Yelp data shows the average yearly business growth during the pandemic is accelerating faster in non-downtown neighborhoods compared to downtown areas, and business growth in 2022 is greater in non-downtown areas compared to the pre-pandemic average. Additionally, some business categories – such as food businesses and restaurants – are seeing more growth in non-downtown neighborhoods than other types of businesses,” reads the Yelp Economic Average report released in October.

These are the facts:

• Non-downtown business growth increased by 313% on average while downtown business growth increased by an average of 116%.
• Food businesses and restaurants are leading the business growth in non-downtown areas.
• When comparing the number of businesses in 2022 to the number of businesses pre-pandemic, Portland, Oregon’s non-downtown business growth outpaced downtown business growth by 157%.
• San Francisco’s non-downtown business growth was 88% more than the downtown areas.
• The non-downtown business growth in Austin outpaced downtown business growth by 74%.
• In Chicago, downtown business growth was 68% behind non-downtown business growth.
• New York, New York had business growth in non-downtown areas outpace the downtown areas by 60%.

“While it’s promising to see both downtowns and non-downtowns continue to grow, the rapid growth in non-downtowns across the country demonstrates the positive economic opportunity that remote work has brought businesses in residential city neighborhoods, versus those in office-centric downtowns.”

Source:
Yelp Economic Average Report