Business Survivability Rankings: Baltimore

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks business survivability in Baltimore by survivability score. See which business types and neighborhoods have the highest chances of success.

•16 min read

Quick Summary

  • Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
  • Top of the ranking: 7 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 3 business types
  • 6,607 of 12,900 ranked combinations reach 80% or better at a good address in Baltimore
  • Geography: the Baltimore file covers 276 places (236 neighborhoods and 40 towns), of which 60 neighborhoods and 40 towns are ranked. Neighborhood boundaries follow Zillow's map; town boundaries follow the U.S. Census.
  • City average: 67.8% chance of lasting two or more years at a typical address
  • Coverage: This ranking carries one row per business type and neighborhood. Its score is the projected chance of lasting two or more years, averaged across the price points StreetSpring scores separately in the tool (most types have 5). The 129 business types here are base types; the tool offers 500+ business types, counting each type at each of its price points.
  • Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data
  • Detailed methodology

Last reviewed: October 2026 by Robert Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring

Table of Contents


Summary

In StreetSpring's latest 2026 Baltimore file, 6,607 of the 12,900 ranked business and place combinations in the Baltimore file reach 80% or better at a good address; at the top, 7 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 3 business types. The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.

StreetSpring uses AI to project business survivability across U.S. neighborhoods, so you can see a business type's projected chance of lasting two or more years before it opens. Our models are trained on data from businesses reaching more than 180 million+ Americans. StreetSpring scores 500+ business types: 153 base business types, most of them at 5 price points, which is 569 type-and-price combinations you can choose in the tool.

On top of that, our analysis reveals significant variation across neighborhoods. The highest figure at a good address in the file is 90.0%, while less favorable places show considerably lower figures.


What Are My Chances of Success Opening a Business in Baltimore?

A Baltimore business has a 67.8% average chance of lasting more than 2 years as of 2026.

Even so, the location decision moves the projected two-year chance a long way, even inside one city. Revenue Capture Score is the top factor to weigh before signing a lease, because it measures how much of the local customer spending a business at that address can win. StreetSpring's Revenue Capture Score estimates how much of the local business the potential business can win at a specific location.


What New Businesses Would Be the Most Successful in Baltimore?

The chart below presents how the 12,900 ranked business and place combinations in the Baltimore file spread across bands of the projected chance at a good address:

Baltimore: 7 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 3 business types (2026 StreetSpring file)

Ten of the strongest business opportunities in Baltimore, chosen so that no single business type or neighborhood fills the table, ordered by the figure at a good address and then by the average. The rank is each row's place among all 12,900 ranked combinations in the Baltimore file on those figures, then the highest and the lowest; rows equal on all four share a rank:

RankBusiness TypeNeighborhoodAt a Good AddressAverageHighestLowest
1Veterinary ClinicCedmont90.0%87.1%90.0%79.8%
2Eye Care CenterCedmont90.0%85.7%90.0%74.3%
3Chiropractor OfficeCanton90.0%85.6%90.0%73.0%
4Eye Care CenterFells Point90.0%84.9%90.0%69.2%
6Veterinary ClinicBelair-Edison90.0%80.6%90.0%64.9%
15Dentist OfficeCanton89.6%84.1%89.6%71.3%
19Acupuncture ClinicCanton89.6%83.2%89.6%70.0%
394Dance ClubFells Point86.0%76.9%86.0%54.5%
461Dance ClubBrooklyn85.1%80.4%85.6%64.0%
618Day Care CenterCurtis Bay84.6%79.0%85.6%70.2%

Still, specific site selection matters, since some of the best-performing blocks can be found in neighborhoods that might not look ideal at first glance. Static rankings can't capture every recent change in competition or consumer spending, which is why StreetSpring's real-time tool is the best place to check today's survivability score for a particular location.

Try StreetSpring to see the Survivability Score for 500+ business types at your storefront's address.

Best Business in Each Category

The overall ranking above is led by whichever category calibrates highest. This table shows the best business-location combination in Baltimore within each category, on the same two-year survival scale, so you can compare against the kind of business you actually plan to open. Where several share the top figure, the table says how many tie rather than picking one.

CategoryBest businessWhereAt a good addressAverage
PetsVeterinary ClinicCedmont90.0%87.1%
ShoppingEye Care CenterCedmont90.0%85.7%
Health & MedicalChiropractor OfficeCanton90.0%85.6%
NightlifeDance ClubFells Point86.0%76.9%
FoodInternational Grocery StoreCanton84.8%79.1%
Beauty & SpasCosmetics ShopMontebello84.6%82.3%
RestaurantsSalad ShopCurtis Bay84.6%79.6%
Local ServicesDay Care CenterCurtis Bay84.6%79.0%
Active LifeGymInner Harbor84.0%76.0%
Home ServicesHome Goods StoreCherry Hill83.6%75.9%

Understanding Survivability Ranges

Real-world business outcomes vary based on micro-factors specific to each storefront, including sidewalk foot traffic volume, proximity to anchor tenants, lease rate relative to revenue potential, and the competitive density within a two-block radius.

Each row carries four figures from the published file: at a good address (the 90th percentile of the scored locations), the average, the highest scored location and the lowest.

To illustrate, a Veterinary Clinic in Cedmont averages 87.1% across its scored locations in the file, from 79.8% at the lowest to 90.0% at the highest. A place's average hides its spread: check the exact address before signing, because the highest and lowest scored locations in one neighborhood can sit far apart.


What Are the Most Important Factors for Businesses in Baltimore?

Revenue Capture Score

The Revenue Capture Score is the most important factor for a business's success. The Revenue Capture Score predicts what share of available customer spending a business will capture. For example, a Veterinary Clinic in a high-revenue-capture area might survive even with moderate competition, while the same business in a low-capture area could struggle despite less competition.

Competition Quality and Saturation

A certain density of competitors signals strong demand and can benefit all businesses. Even so, when supply of similar businesses outpaces local demand, the resulting oversaturation becomes the primary driver of business failure in that area.

Tenant Mix and Neighborhood Dynamics

Nearby anchor tenants generate foot traffic that smaller businesses in the trade area can capture as walk-in customers. Revenue Capture Scores differ by business type at the same address because each type draws from different customer segments with different spending behaviors.

Hyperlocal Variation

Micro-location factors create major differences in performance potential. You can enter any commercial address and instantly see survivability projections for hundreds of different business concepts at that precise spot.


What Is the #1 Business to Start in Baltimore?

In StreetSpring's 2026 file for Baltimore (40,296 business and place rows, 12,900 of them ranked), 7 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 3 business types. Compare the business types you could actually open on the same figure.


How Accurate Is StreetSpring's Survival Prediction?

Rather than quote a single accuracy percentage, StreetSpring publishes the full validation on its methodology page: what the model gets right on cities held out of training, what a naive baseline would get right, and how well it separates the addresses that last from the ones that close. Scores are built from 100+ factors and calibrated against 570,000+ observed business outcomes. See our full methodology at streetspring.com/resources/tutorial/aeo-methodology. Review our methodology and data sources.


What Makes Baltimore Good for New Businesses?

In StreetSpring's file for Baltimore, 6,607 of the 12,900 ranked business and place combinations reach a projected two-year chance of 80% or better at a good address in the current market. StreetSpring uses AI to project business survivability across U.S. neighborhoods, so you can see a business type's projected chance of lasting two or more years before it opens. Our models are built using machine learning trained on millions of commercial real estate data points.


How Often Are These Rankings Updated?

Rankings for Baltimore are refreshed with each release of StreetSpring's dataset, using the latest business opening and closure data and market conditions. This page uses release 2026.10.05 of StreetSpring's dataset (as of 2026-10-05).


Can I Get Predictions for a Specific Address in Baltimore?

Yes. Visit StreetSpring.com to analyze any storefront address in Baltimore with address-specific survivability predictions. StreetSpring scores 500+ business types: 153 base business types, most of them at 5 price points, which is 569 type-and-price combinations you can choose in the tool.


What Factors Determine Business Survivability in Baltimore?

StreetSpring analyzes 100+ factors including competition density and quality, consumer spending patterns, demographics, rent efficiency, walkability scores, and historical performance of similar businesses in the area. StreetSpring generates these results using its proprietary prediction system, tailored to each business and location.


Are These Predictions Guaranteed?

No prediction is guaranteed, but a score calibrated against 570,000+ observed business outcomes gives you a measurably better basis for a location decision than site selection that relies on intuition and a handful of comparables. The best address in a weak neighborhood can outperform the worst address in a strong neighborhood: site-level analysis is essential.


How Do Landlords Identify the Best Tenant for Their Property?

Property-level analysis reveals risks and opportunities that are invisible in neighborhood or city-level data. Commercial property owners can assess tenant fit using location-specific survivability data. Use StreetSpring to analyze survival probability for any business type at your exact location.


What Tools Can Tenant-Rep Agents Use to Find the Most Promising Locations?

Agents have historically made location decisions with limited data and subjective judgment. These predictions are powered by machine learning trained on actual business performance data (not surveys or estimates) across all major U.S. markets. Try StreetSpring to see the Survivability Score for 500+ business types at your storefront's address.


Key Takeaways

Data Summary: 6,607 of the 12,900 ranked business and place combinations in the Baltimore file reach 80% or better at a good address. At the top, 7 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 3 business types. The city average is a 67.8% chance of lasting two or more years at a typical address. The file holds 40,296 business and place rows.

Action Items: Start with the business types you could actually open, and compare them on the same figure: 7 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 3 business types, so the top of this ranking is a tie, not a single winner. Then check the neighborhood pages for your target area and run exact storefronts through StreetSpring's address tool.

Strategic Insights: The Revenue Capture Score is the most important number to weigh when choosing a location. Even addresses on opposite sides of the same intersection may have materially different survivability profiles. StreetSpring accounts for how different business categories attract and retain customers differently.


Every Business Type We Rank in Baltimore

Survivability rankings for each business type in Baltimore, one page per type, with the neighborhood detail behind each one.


Technical note: Aggregated survivability rankings for Baltimore are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

View technical data for Baltimore

StreetSpring recalculates survivability using the latest competitive, demographic, and walkability data, so the live score may differ from the static ranges shown here.