{"id":415521,"date":"2026-10-01T08:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T08:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415521\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T08:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T08:22:10","slug":"naples-leads-with-top-small-business-employment-shares-inside-the-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415521\/","title":{"rendered":"Naples leads with top small-business employment shares | Inside the Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Small<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A ceramic artist works inside a Southwest Florida studio. Naples and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area rank among the nation\u2019s top-performing markets for small businesses, according to a recent CoworkingCafe study.<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

Southwest Florida remains a strong market for small businesses. A recent study by CoworkingCafe ranked cities nationwide based on the strength of their small-business communities, and both the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area and Naples placed among the top performers for cities of their size: Cape Coral-Fort Myers ranked fifth among midsize cities, while Naples placed fourth among small cities. Elsewhere in Florida, Miami ranked No. 1 among large cities, and Sarasota-North Port finished fourth among midsize cities.<\/p>\n

What makes Southwest Florida so attractive to small businesses? Florida\u2019s lack of a state income tax has long been a draw for entrepreneurs. Locally, the region\u2019s rapid growth over the past decade has created demand for businesses that serve its expanding population.<\/p>\n

According to the study, small businesses in construction, light industrial trades and professional services, including healthcare, tend to perform particularly well in the region.<\/p>\n

Naples, in particular, has become a hotspot for small-business owners. The city has about 16,678 registered small businesses per 100,000 residents, and roughly 64% of employees work for small businesses, compared with 46% nationally. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area also has an above-average share of employees working for small businesses, at 55.8%.<\/p>\n

Self-employment rates are also well above the national average of about 10%, reaching 18.2% in Naples and 14% in Cape Coral.<\/p>\n

City<\/p>\n

Business applications per 100K<\/p>\n

Small businesses per 100K<\/p>\n

Small business share of employment<\/p>\n

Self-employment percentage<\/p>\n

Small business survival rate (one year)<\/p>\n

Overall labor force participation<\/p>\n

Cape Coral-Fort Myers<\/p>\n

2,332<\/p>\n

13,759<\/p>\n

55.8%<\/p>\n

14%<\/p>\n

88.6%<\/p>\n

53.6%<\/p>\n

Naples<\/p>\n

2,409<\/p>\n

16,678<\/p>\n

63.8%<\/p>\n

18.2%<\/p>\n

90.5%<\/p>\n

51.2%<\/p>\n

Sarasota-North Port<\/p>\n

2,114<\/p>\n

13,387<\/p>\n

58.1%<\/p>\n

15.6%<\/p>\n

89.8%<\/p>\n

51.7%<\/p>\n

Source: CoworkingCafe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A ceramic artist works inside a Southwest Florida studio. Naples and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area rank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[164626,209,211,210,37376,178,25800,28,5387,164627,6652,1521],"class_list":["post-415521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-business-ranking","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-cape-coral-fort-myers","tag-economic-growth","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-florida","tag-naples","tag-self-employment","tag-small-business","tag-southwest-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}