July 28, 2016 2 min read

This story appears in the August 2016 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

Yes, there's life for entrepreneurs outside New York and San Francisco -- and we've got the proof! To identify the best places in which to launch and operate a business, we partnered with Livability.com, which studies small and midsize cities.

Matt Carmichael, the site's chief trend analyst, developed the ranking, crunching a wide range of data, including the number of businesses and employees between 2011 and 2015; unemployment rates; number of VC deals in the past 10 years; business tax rate; value of SBA and 7(a) loans; percentage of college-educated locals; cost of living; commute time; accessibility of high-speed broadband; projected household income and population increase from now to 2020; "leakage and surplus," which charts whether people spend their money outside a city on goods and services rather than in it; the growth of good jobs and high-income positions: and Livability's own rating of overall quality of life.

We've included just a sampling here. For the full list of 50, visit Livability or pick up a copy of Entrepreneur’s August 2016 issue.

Read more here:

The 15 Best U.S. Cities for Entrepreneurs to Live and Launch

Boise

Boise's Creative Class Smashes All Your Sterotypes

Boulder

Why One VC Says Boulder is a Perfect Storm for Startups

What's Taking Boulder's Pot Industry to Great Heights

Chapel Hill, N.C., Washington D.C.

These Veterans Have Raised More Than $31 Million in Startup Capital

Fargo

Live In This House Rent-Free -- and Launch Your Startup

The Best Minds in Drone-Making Meet in This North Dakota Town

Iowa

How This NFL Player Became Iowa City's Retail Champion

Kansas City

Kansas City: Five Reasons Startup Village Could Happen Only Here

Nashville

Meet the Designers Building Nashville's Fashion Scene

Portland

Rain Never Hurts Ice Cream Sales in This U.S. City

Seattle

This Group Mentors African American Entrepreneurs in Seattle

State College

A Coworking Space Transformed This Pennsylvania College Town