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At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and the shutdown of so-called "non-essential" businesses and for months later, businesses across Lubbock were struggling and many would eventually fail. Even today, some businesses aren't out of the woods. Business owners have struggled and fought to keep their businesses afloat.

If you would have asked someone 6-8 months ago if it was a good idea to start a business, many would laugh. But that was then and now we are seeing more restaurants, bars, and other businesses open.

So is now a good time to open a business and is Lubbock a good place to open? The answer to both of those questions is yes. According to a study done by WalletHub, Lubbock, Texas is the third best city in America to start a business right now. WalletHub compared data from 100 different cities.

In order to determine the best cities for launching a business, WalletHub compared 100 cities, across three key dimensions: 1) Business Environment, 2) Access to Resources and 3) Business Costs. Our sample considers only the city proper in each case, excluding cities in the surrounding metro area.

Laredo, Texas actually ranked first in the nation followed by Durham, North Carolina. Texas actually did very well as far as the state goes for places to start a business. Austin ranked 8th followed by Fort Worth at #9. Dallas was the 14th best city to start a business with Irving and Arlington at #22 and #23. Five other Texas cities made the top 100 list according to WalletHub.

If you look around Lubbock, it makes sense. Places are either re-opening or opening for the first time and people are getting out of their homes and doing things. The only real downside is that so many businesses are trying to hire people. There is a shortage of workers, but that is something we see across the nation.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

 

LOOK: Here are the best small towns to live in across America

 

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