In plain words
The Index asks the five questions on every county page and turns the answers into one number for each business type: is there room for one more, can people here spend, is the place growing, what does it cost to start, and do businesses here last. Each part is a national rank from 0 (lowest of all U.S. counties) to 100 (highest). The score is the weighted average of the five ranks. This edition scores 33,314 business types across 2,946 counties.
The five parts
| Part | Weight | What raises it | Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Room | 30% | Fewer of this business type than the 60 most similar counties; many one-person shops for each one with staff | Census County Business Patterns and Nonemployer Statistics 2023; Groundwork Peer-County Method. Ranked against the same type in every county. The one-person signal counts for 30% of this part where the Census publishes it. |
| Spending power | 20% | Median household income well above the county's Leisure Wage for one adult | Census ACS 2019–2023; Groundwork Leisure Wage, 2026 edition |
| Momentum | 20% | Private jobs, new business applications and population growing; announced projects of 100 or more jobs per resident | BLS QCEW 2019 and 2024; Census Business Formation Statistics; Census population estimates; Groundwork announced-projects data. Average of the parts available, at least two. |
| Cost to enter | 15% | A lower Cost of a First Year for this type here | Groundwork Startup Lab cost band (low end), a year of BLS sector pay here and a year at the Leisure Wage. Ranked against the same type in every county. |
| Staying power | 15% | Fewer businesses closing each year; more adults in the labor force | Census Business Dynamics Statistics 2021–2023; Census ACS 2019–2023 |
When there is no score
We score a business type only where the Census publishes its count in the county and the Map rates it. Where the Census hides a small count, the page says so instead of guessing. A score needs at least four of the five parts; when one is missing, the score uses the other four with their weights rescaled, and the missing bar shows a dash.
What can mislead
- A high score is a reason to look, not a reason to sign. People shop across county lines, and a gap can mean the customers are elsewhere.
- Staying power does not yet include natural-hazard risk. It will be added in a later version.
- Sector pay averages include higher-paid jobs in the same sector, so the cost part can run high for cleaning, lawn care, photography and veterinary work.
- Spending power compares household income with the Leisure Wage for one adult, a simple, comparable yardstick rather than a full household budget.
Grades
The inputs are Official figures, except the Leisure Wage and the Startup Lab bands. The weights and the way the parts are combined are a Groundwork Measure (GWM).
Cite this
Groundwork Business Advisory. (2026). The Groundwork Opportunity Index (Version 0.1). https://groundworkbusinessadvisory.com/where-to-open/opportunity-index/
Use and license
Free to use for non-commercial work with credit to Groundwork Business Advisory. Commercial use, including resale or use in a paid product, is by license: info@groundworkbusinessadvisory.com.
Version history
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | November 1, 2026 | First version. Five parts, weights 30, 20, 20, 15 and 15. |
Rebuilt from public data with tools/whereopen_index.py. Groundwork Business Advisory. Plain and sourced.