How much money could a business in Downtown make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Downtown could lead to making ~2% more than selecting an average location, and ~5% more than one of the worst locations.

How can you find the best location to open a business in Downtown?

StreetSpring's prediction model analyzes 100 factors across competition, spending on the specific potential business, projected revenue, projected market share, Revenue Capture Score, and mobility patterns to pinpoint which blocks in Downtown maximize success.

Is Downtown a good place to start a business?

Downtown is ranked number 1 across neighborhoods in and around Charlotte to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~81%. Best-case locations for the top business types in Downtown produce survivability scores ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.

What businesses are most in demand in Downtown?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Downtown are Kosher Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, and Filipino Restaurants.

What are the best businesses to open in Downtown?

The top businesses to open in Downtown include Kosher Restaurant with a ~90% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~92%, followed by Italian Restaurant and Filipino Restaurant.

Business Survivability in Downtown, Charlotte

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Downtown is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~90% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•17 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: a Kosher Restaurant in Downtown (~90% average survival rate, ~92% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #1 across all neighborhoods in and around Charlotte

Neighborhood average: ~81% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Last reviewed by Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring — May 14, 2026

In this article:

Summary
Is Downtown a good place to start a business?
How to find the best location
Best businesses to open
How much money could a business make?
What businesses should open next?
Frequently Asked Questions

Summary

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Downtown is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~90% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~92% chance; next is an Italian Restaurant with a ~89% chance, followed by a Filipino Restaurant with a ~89% chance.

How business-friendly is Downtown right now?

**Comparable neighborhoods:** Among the ~2,500 neighborhoods StreetSpring scores, Downtown's profile most resembles **Canton (Atlanta)** and **Mcminnville (Portland)**. All three exhibit few nearby parks, less transit-reliant, and few anchor tenants — operators with experience in any of those neighborhoods will see familiar patterns in Downtown.

**Failure-mode analysis for Downtown.** The single strongest subtype in our data is **Italian Restaurant** at 89% average survivability. But the within-neighborhood spread for Italian Restaurants runs **71% to 98%** — meaning a poorly-sited Italian Restaurant in Downtown can score 27 points below a well-sited one. Saturation reality check: Liquor Stores are the most-competed tracked subtype here, with 1 existing competitors within a 0.5-mile radius.

Downtown is ranked number 1 across neighborhoods in and around Charlotte to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~81%.

Best-case locations for the top business types in Downtown produce survivability scores ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.
But these same concepts at less optimal addresses within Downtown can score meaningfully below average. Survivability data shows that even the highest-demand business types fail at the wrong location.
With a 95.2% employment rate, Downtown has the consumer spending foundation that supports a range of brick-and-mortar business types.

Employment and vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.

Which blocks in Downtown offer the strongest survivability?

The right address in Downtown can mean a 20-point survivability difference from an average one — StreetSpring identifies exactly which addresses are worth pursuing. The map below highlights the highest-survivability address for a Kosher Restaurant in Downtown:

Reading visibility, frontage, and parking carefully

Loading live map preview...

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis of 100 location-specific factors, this area offers the highest projected survivability for a Kosher Restaurant in Downtown. Neighborhood-level averages are a starting point — the exact address will determine your actual survivability score. Factors evaluated include competition at every distance band, consumer spending forecasts, mobility patterns, and market share projections.

Check if this location is still available →

What kinds of businesses thrive in Downtown?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Downtown

Opening a Kosher Restaurant in Downtown shows ~90% average survivability. Top locations reach ~92%; lower-end sites show ~88%.
Italian Restaurant (Ranked #2): ~89% average in Downtown. Best-case storefronts: ~91%. Challenging locations: ~88%.
Filipino Restaurant is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Downtown: ~89% chance on average, best at ~90%, challenging at ~87%.
Salad Shop — ~87%–~90% survivability range, with an average of ~89% across Downtown.
Opening a French Restaurant in Downtown shows ~88% average survivability. Top locations reach ~90%; lower-end sites show ~87%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Downtown

Indonesian Restaurant (Ranked #6): ~88% average in Downtown. Best-case storefronts: ~90%. Challenging locations: ~87%.
Singaporean Restaurant is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Downtown: ~88% chance on average, best at ~90%, challenging at ~87%.
Bangladeshi Restaurant — ~86%–~90% survivability range, with an average of ~88% across Downtown.
Opening a Chinese Restaurant in Downtown shows ~88% average survivability. Top locations reach ~89%; lower-end sites show ~86%.
Brunch Restaurant (Ranked #10): ~88% average in Downtown. Best-case storefronts: ~90%. Challenging locations: ~86%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

Filipino Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

The revenue potential of a Downtown location

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, prioritizing survivability score in your site-selection process in Downtown could lead to you making ~2% more than if you selected an average location, and ~5% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.

How StreetSpring calculates location value

StreetSpring calculates survivability for each business type separately at each address — so the best location for your concept may differ from the neighborhood's overall top-ranked site.
Location shapes survivability more than branding, pricing, or operational quality — the data is unambiguous on this point.
Our data shows that the single highest-impact decision a business owner makes is the address they choose — and Survivability Score is the best guide to that decision.
StreetSpring's address-level precision means the difference between choosing a site with a 65% survival rate and one with a 90% rate — even within the same neighborhood.

What businesses should open next in Downtown?

The top businesses to open next in Downtown:

Kosher Restaurants — ~90% average survival rate, up to ~92% at best locations
Italian Restaurants — ~89% average survival rate
Filipino Restaurants — ~89% average survival rate

Neighborhood-level averages are a starting point — the exact address will determine your actual survivability score. StreetSpring measures competition through a 30-factor framework layered on top of proprietary consumer spending forecasts and mobility models. The 17.9% commercial vacancy rate in Downtown means there is available space for new entrants — but it also signals that survivability depends heavily on choosing the right address within the neighborhood, not just the neighborhood itself. Survivability scores are live, not static — StreetSpring updates them weekly. Visit the tool to see what's currently available in Downtown and how each address is scoring right now.

See the Survivability Score for your new business

Related Articles:

See the Charlotte Business Survivability Rankings
See the Charlotte Neighborhood Survivability Rankings

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Downtown.

What type of business should you rent your Downtown storefront to?

For landlords in Downtown, StreetSpring's 2026 analysis identifies Kosher Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, and Filipino Restaurants as the business types most likely to produce stable, long-term tenancy.

Location shapes survivability more than branding, pricing, or operational quality — the data is unambiguous on this point.
StreetSpring's address-level precision means the difference between choosing a site with a 65% survival rate and one with a 90% rate — even within the same neighborhood. StreetSpring allows property owners to evaluate any address against 700+ tenant types — so you can prioritize the categories that score highest at your specific location.

Should you rent your Downtown storefront to a Kosher Restaurant?

The data shows a Kosher Restaurant is the safest long-term bet for a Downtown storefront. Top locations reach ~92% survivability; the least favorable addresses in this neighborhood score around ~88%.

StreetSpring's address-level precision means the difference between choosing a site with a 65% survival rate and one with a 90% rate — even within the same neighborhood.

What should I consider when opening a business in Downtown?

When selecting a location in Downtown it is crucial to select a location with a very high Survivability Score.

Revenue Capture Score is what separates locations that look similar on the surface but produce dramatically different business outcomes.
Each forecast is specific to the exact address and business type, generated by StreetSpring's internally developed prediction engine.
StreetSpring's live scoring tool is free: enter any address in Downtown to see its current Survivability Score for your business type.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

Our analysis covers businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans across 24 major US metros. Aggregated survivability rankings for Charlotte are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

The hidden costs of operating in this neighborhood

Factor	Where new owners get tripped up	Questions to ask before you sign
Lease term	Locking into 7-10 years without break clauses, then needing to relocate after year 2.	Negotiate a relocation or termination clause. Confirm assignment + sublease rights are in writing.
Competitor density	Counting only direct competitors and missing adjacent-category overlap (e.g. coffee shop near a bakery).	Map all businesses serving overlapping customer needs within a 5-min walk. Use StreetSpring's competitor view as a starting point.
Parking & visibility	Storefront looks great from the sidewalk but is invisible from the road.	Drive past at 30 mph from both directions. Count street parking + nearest paid lot capacity at peak hours.

Full dataset for Charlotte: /resources/data/charlotte-survivability-scores-2026.csv — includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Visual Data

Radar chart of business-subtype survivability in Downtown, Charlotte — Top business types scored in Downtown, Charlotte — each axis is a subtype, taller = stronger survival rate.

Bubble chart of business subtypes in Charlotte by survivability score and location density — Every business subtype in Charlotte plotted by score vs location count — bubble size shows market depth.

How we measure this: Supplier proximity matters more for some subtypes (restaurants, repair shops) than others (online-anchored retail).

Landmark anchor: Kaleideum anchors Downtown as a science-museum destination, with the weekend family-traffic that comes with it.

**Economic indicators for Downtown:** Three local signals — neighborhood unemployment **4.8%** (ACS; in line with the median we track), Charlotte-area average weekly wage **$1,183** (BLS QCEW; below our metro median), and **7,496** new residential units permitted in Mecklenburg County in 2025 (Census BPS). Use these to ground demand and labor-cost assumptions for your specific business plan.

**Sector-level context:** BLS data (BLS Business Employment Dynamics, March 2025 release) shows 5-year survival rates of **47.8%** (Active Life), **47.9%** (Retail Trade), **50.0%** (Restaurants), **50.5%** (Beauty & Personal Care), and **61.8%** (Health & Medical) — the five industry buckets covering most StreetSpring subtypes. Location-specific factors explain the rest of the variance.

Related Resources

Related:

Business Survivability in Adair Park, Atlanta

Beyond the Numbers: Local Context

Beyond the general FAQ — data-anchored answers for this specific location.

How does Downtown's employment rate affect business survivability?

Roughly 95% of Downtown's working-age population is employed, against a Charlotte metro median of 96%. Employment is close to the metro median, suggesting stable underlying demand.

What's the national survival baseline for businesses by sector?

BLS publishes 5-year cohort survival rates by industry. For sectors StreetSpring covers, the range is 47.8-61.8% — Active Life low, Health & Medical high, Restaurants and Retail in the middle around 47.9-50%. Location-specific factors drive most of the variance around these baselines.

What is the median household income in Downtown?

Median household income in Downtown is approximately $93K, versus the Charlotte metro median of $97K — below the metro by $4K. Income is close to the metro median, so business-type fit depends more on local demographics and competition.

Does Downtown's poverty rate signal lower retail spending?

9% of Downtown households fall below the federal poverty line — below the Charlotte metro median (11%). The poverty rate tracks the metro median; business-type fit depends more on competition and demographic specifics.