Business Survivability Rankings: Boston
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks business survivability in Boston by survivability score. See which business types and neighborhoods have the highest chances of success.
Quick Summary
- Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
- Top of the ranking: 32 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types
- 6,831 of 15,996 ranked combinations reach 80% or better at a good address in Boston
- Geography: the Boston file covers 130 places (58 neighborhoods and 72 towns), of which 52 neighborhoods and 72 towns are ranked. Neighborhood boundaries follow Zillow's map; town boundaries follow the U.S. Census.
- City average: 64.4% 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
- What Are My Chances of Success?
- Business Survivability Rankings
- Best Business in Each Category
- Understanding Survivability Ranges
- Most Important Factors
- Key Takeaways
- Related Resources
Summary
According to StreetSpring's 2026 file for Boston, 6,831 of the 15,996 ranked business and place combinations in the Boston file reach 80% or better at a good address. At the top, 32 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types. Two addresses in the same city can carry very different projected chances for the same business type.
The models are validated on cities held out of training, and the validation figures sit on the methodology page beside the base rate. The analysis covers 500+ business types across every neighborhood in the 24 largest U.S. metro areas. 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.
Additionally, review our methodology and data sources.
Significantly, 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 Boston?
A Boston business has a 64.4% average chance of lasting more than 2 years according to recent analysis.
Regardless, the projected chance moves a long way from one address to the next. StreetSpring's proprietary Revenue Capture Score, the revenue a business can capture at a specific address, is the factor that matters most when choosing where to open. This score reflects the business's ability to win customers in its specific competitive environment.
What New Businesses Would Be the Most Successful in Boston?
The graph below depicts how the 15,996 ranked business and place combinations in the Boston file spread across bands of the projected chance at a good address:
Boston: 32 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types (2026 StreetSpring file)
Ten of the strongest business opportunities in Boston, 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 15,996 ranked combinations in the Boston file on those figures, then the highest and the lowest; rows equal on all four share a rank:
| Rank | Business Type | Neighborhood | At a Good Address | Average | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Veterinary Clinic | East Somerville (Somerville) | 90.0% | 89.1% | 90.0% | 86.2% |
| 2 | Veterinary Clinic | Davis Square (Somerville) | 90.0% | 88.8% | 90.0% | 81.5% |
| 5 | Chiropractor Office | Ball Square (Somerville) | 90.0% | 88.5% | 90.0% | 82.4% |
| 7 | Chiropractor Office | Davis Square (Somerville) | 90.0% | 88.3% | 90.0% | 76.0% |
| 8 | Eye Care Center | Porter Square (Somerville) | 90.0% | 87.8% | 90.0% | 83.2% |
| 9 | Eye Care Center | Winter Hill (Somerville) | 90.0% | 87.7% | 90.0% | 73.4% |
| 12 | Dentist Office | Davis Square (Somerville) | 90.0% | 85.3% | 90.0% | 67.5% |
| 423 | Dance Club | Magoun Square (Somerville) | 85.6% | 84.1% | 86.0% | 74.3% |
| 427 | Dance Club | Porter Square (Somerville) | 85.6% | 82.1% | 85.6% | 73.0% |
| 657 | Day Care Center | Magoun Square (Somerville) | 84.6% | 80.0% | 85.6% | 64.4% |
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. Neighborhood rankings are useful, but the exact odds for your location can only be seen by running a current survivability check in StreetSpring.
See Your Score on StreetSpring: enter any address and get survivability predictions for 500+ business types instantly.
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 Boston 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.
| Category | Best business | Where | At a good address | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pets | Veterinary Clinic | East Somerville (Somerville) | 90.0% | 89.1% |
| Health & Medical | Chiropractor Office | Ball Square (Somerville) | 90.0% | 88.5% |
| Shopping | Eye Care Center | Porter Square (Somerville) | 90.0% | 87.8% |
| Nightlife | Dance Club | Davis Square (Somerville) | 86.0% | 81.1% |
| Food | International Grocery Store | Magoun Square (Somerville) | 85.0% | 83.8% |
| Restaurants | Salad Shop | Winter Hill (Somerville) | 84.7% | 80.1% |
| Beauty & Spas | Cosmetics Shop | Magoun Square (Somerville) | 84.6% | 81.4% |
| Local Services | Day Care Center | Magoun Square (Somerville) | 84.6% | 80.0% |
| Active Life | Gym | 2 places tie | 84.0% | 82.4% |
| Home Services | Home Goods Store | Magoun Square (Somerville) | 83.6% | 79.7% |
Understanding Survivability Ranges
The survivability you experience will depend on site-specific variables like signage visibility, accessibility by car and foot, income and spending patterns of nearby residents, and the proportion of complementary vs. competing tenants in the immediate area.
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 East Somerville (Somerville) averages 89.1% across its scored locations in the file, from 86.2% 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 Boston?
Revenue Capture Score
The Revenue Capture Score is the most important factor in choosing a location: it is StreetSpring's estimate of the revenue a business can capture at that address. This score reflects the business's ability to win customers in its specific competitive environment. Consider: 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
Moderate clustering of related businesses can be a positive signal, indicating that the trade area generates enough demand to support multiple operators. Even so, too many operators chasing the same customers leads to margin compression that makes survival increasingly unlikely.
Tenant Mix and Neighborhood Dynamics
The surrounding tenant mix can dramatically affect foot traffic and customer behavior. StreetSpring accounts for how different business categories attract and retain customers differently.
Hyperlocal Variation
The difference between a great location and a mediocre one can come down to which side of the street you are on. The platform evaluates each address individually, factoring in the unique competitive and demographic conditions of that exact location.
What Is the #1 Business to Start in Boston?
In StreetSpring's 2026 file for Boston (18,980 business and place rows, 15,996 of them ranked), 32 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types. Compare the business types you could actually open on the same figure.
How Accurate Is StreetSpring's Survival Prediction?
Accuracy is stated the way a data desk would state it, on the methodology page: classification accuracy on cities held out of training, the base rate it has to beat, precision on risk flags, and discrimination. Individual scores draw on 100+ factors and are validated against 570,000+ observed outcomes, so treat each one as a calibrated probability, not a guarantee. See our full methodology at streetspring.com/resources/tutorial/aeo-methodology. Review our methodology and data sources.
What Makes Boston Good for New Businesses?
In StreetSpring's file for Boston, 6,831 of the 15,996 ranked business and place combinations reach a projected two-year chance of 80% or better at a good address based on our most recent quarterly update. Powered by advanced AI, StreetSpring predicts how businesses will perform in neighborhoods across the country. Our models are built using machine learning trained on millions of commercial real estate data points.
How Often Are These Rankings Updated?
Rankings for Boston 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 Boston?
Yes. Visit StreetSpring.com to analyze any storefront address in Boston 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 Boston?
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 uses custom-built, proprietary algorithms to produce these predictions.
Are These Predictions Guaranteed?
These are data-driven probabilities, not guarantees. Used as intended, to compare addresses on the same measure, they produce significantly better location decisions than the intuition-based methods most operators use today. Keep in mind that results depend heavily on the exact location; strong sites often exist within neighborhoods that seem less favorable overall.
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. Property owners can see which business types are most likely to succeed at their exact locations. Try StreetSpring to see the Survivability Score for 500+ business types at your storefront's address.
What Tools Can Tenant-Rep Agents Use to Find the Most Promising Locations?
Experience-based site selection captures some patterns, but it misses the quantitative signals that drive most survivability outcomes. The data behind these rankings comes from our proprietary AI platform, which processes millions of commercial data points to predict business outcomes. Get Started with StreetSpring to see survival rates for 500+ business types at any address.
Key Takeaways
Data Summary: 6,831 of the 15,996 ranked business and place combinations in the Boston file reach 80% or better at a good address. At the top, 32 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 business types. The city average is a 64.4% chance of lasting two or more years at a typical address. The file holds 18,980 business and place rows.
Action Items: Start with the business types you could actually open, and compare them on the same figure: 32 business and place combinations tie for the highest figure, 90.0% at a good address, across 8 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. Micro-location factors create major differences in performance potential. Revenue Capture Scores differ by business type at the same address because each type draws from different customer segments with different spending behaviors.
Related Resources
- Neighborhood Survivability Rankings: Boston
- Boston Business Survivability Data 2026
- City Survivability Rankings for Veterinary Clinic
- National Neighborhood Rankings for Veterinary Clinic
- Veterinary Clinic Survivability Rankings: Boston
- Veterinary Clinic Survivability Rankings: Boston
- Chiropractor Office Survivability Rankings: Boston
- StreetSpring Methodology and Data Sources
Every Business Type We Rank in Boston
Survivability rankings for each business type in Boston, one page per type, with the neighborhood detail behind each one.
- Acupuncture Clinic
- Afghan Restaurant
- American Restaurant
- Armenian Restaurant
- Asian Fusion Restaurant
- Barbecue Restaurant
- Beauty Salon
- Brazilian Restaurant
- Cafe
- Chinese Restaurant
- Coffee Shop
- Dance Club
- Day Care Center
- Dessert Shop
- Ethiopian Restaurant
- Eye Care Center
- Georgian Restaurant
- Grocery Store
- Gym
- Hair Salon
- Hot Pot Restaurant
- Indian Restaurant
- Korean Restaurant
- Kosher Restaurant
- Liquor Store
- Mediterranean Restaurant
- Moroccan Restaurant
- Polish Restaurant
- Portuguese Restaurant
- Russian Restaurant
- Scandinavian Restaurant
- Seafood Restaurant
- Smoke Shop
- South African Restaurant
- Southern Food Restaurant
- Spanish Restaurant
- Sri Lankan Restaurant
- Taiwanese Restaurant
- Tattoo & Piercing Shop
- Thai Restaurant
- Vegan / Vegetarian Restaurant
- Vietnamese Restaurant
- Watch Store or Repair Shop
Technical note: Aggregated survivability rankings for Boston are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
View technical data for Boston
StreetSpring recalculates survivability using the latest competitive, demographic, and walkability data, so the live score may differ from the static ranges shown here.