City Survivability Rankings for Shoe Store
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks the top cities for Shoe Stores across the US by Survivability Scores. See which cities offer the best chances for a Shoe Store to succeed.
Quick Summary
- Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
- The highest-ranked city for Shoe Store is Houston: 84.5% at a good address, 76.9% at a typical address
- Dallas is left out of this ranking while a gap in its input data is repaired, and San Antonio is left out because it has too few scored locations to rank fairly
- 7 of 22 analyzed US metros average above 70% for Shoe Store survivability at a typical address
- The lowest-ranked city is New York City at 79.6%
- National average chance of lasting two or more years for Shoe Store: 68.6%
- Data reflects 2026 StreetSpring survivability analysis across 22 US metro areas · Full methodology →
Table of Contents
- Summary
- Top Cities for Shoe Stores
- Key Insights
- What Makes These Cities Stand Out?
- Related Resources
- How current is this ranking?
- Can a Shoe Store succeed in cities not ranked in the top 10?
- What tools can help me choose the right city for a Shoe Store?
- Which US city has the best survivability for Shoe Stores?
Summary
According to StreetSpring's 2026 nationwide analysis, Houston ranks as the #1 city for opening a Shoe Store in the United States, with an 84.5% chance of lasting two or more years at a good address. Following close behind are Charlotte with 83.7%, and Denver with 83.7%. StreetSpring's 22-city analysis places the national average for Shoe Stores at 68.6%, a baseline that Houston comfortably exceeds. Keep in mind that results depend heavily on the exact location; strong sites often exist within cities that seem less favorable overall. Pair these survivability scores with StreetSpring's live tool to get a real-time view before making a final decision.
Survivability ranges reflect best and worst storefront conditions within each city. See our full methodology →
Best-to-worst Shoe Store survivability within individual metros: Houston, Charlotte, Washington DC, Portland and New York City. Each box spans the middle of that metro's range; whiskers are its best and worst locations (2026).
All 22 Cities Ranked for Shoe Stores
Based on StreetSpring's analysis of 22 major metropolitan areas, these cities offer the strongest prospects for Shoe Stores:
| # | Metro | Metro area | Chance of lasting two or more years at a good address |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houston | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | 84.5% |
| 2 | Charlotte | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | 83.7% |
| 3 | Denver | Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | 83.7% |
| 4 | Phoenix | Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | 83.2% |
| 5 | Atlanta | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 83.2% |
| 6 | Orlando | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | 83.2% |
| 7 | Minneapolis | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 82.8% |
| 8 | Seattle | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 82.8% |
| 9 | Los Angeles | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 82.8% |
| 10 | Chicago | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 82.8% |
| 11 | St. Louis | St. Louis, MO-IL | 82.3% |
| 12 | Washington DC | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 82.3% |
| 13 | Philadelphia | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 81.8% |
| 14 | Baltimore | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 81.8% |
| 15 | Miami | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 81.8% |
| 16 | San Diego | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 81.4% |
| 17 | San Francisco | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 81.4% |
| 18 | Detroit | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 81.0% |
| 19 | Tampa Bay | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 80.0% |
| 20 | Boston | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 80.0% |
| 21 | Portland | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 79.6% |
| 22 | New York City | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 79.6% |
1. Houston Metro: Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX
- At a good address: 84.5%
- At a typical address: 76.9%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
2. Charlotte Metro: Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
- At a good address: 83.7%
- At a typical address: 72.7%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
3. Denver Metro: Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO
- At a good address: 83.7%
- At a typical address: 70.9%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
4. Phoenix Metro: Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
- At a good address: 83.2%
- At a typical address: 72.3%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
5. Atlanta Metro: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
- At a good address: 83.2%
- At a typical address: 71.9%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
6. Orlando Metro: Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL
- At a good address: 83.2%
- At a typical address: 71.4%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
7. Minneapolis Metro: Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
- At a good address: 82.8%
- At a typical address: 70.6%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
8. Seattle Metro: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
- At a good address: 82.8%
- At a typical address: 69.6%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
9. Los Angeles Metro: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
- At a good address: 82.8%
- At a typical address: 68.4%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
10. Chicago Metro: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
- At a good address: 82.8%
- At a typical address: 67.4%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
11. St. Louis Metro: St. Louis, MO-IL
- At a good address: 82.3%
- At a typical address: 69.3%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
12. Washington DC Metro: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
- At a good address: 82.3%
- At a typical address: 67.6%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
13. Philadelphia Metro: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
- At a good address: 81.8%
- At a typical address: 68.8%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
14. Baltimore Metro: Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
- At a good address: 81.8%
- At a typical address: 67.4%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
15. Miami Metro: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
- At a good address: 81.8%
- At a typical address: 66.5%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
16. San Diego Metro: San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
- At a good address: 81.4%
- At a typical address: 68.1%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
17. San Francisco Metro: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
- At a good address: 81.4%
- At a typical address: 65.0%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
18. Detroit Metro: Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
- At a good address: 81.0%
- At a typical address: 67.4%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
19. Tampa Bay Metro: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
- At a good address: 80.0%
- At a typical address: 65.4%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
20. Boston Metro: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
- At a good address: 80.0%
- At a typical address: 64.7%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
21. Portland Metro: Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA
- At a good address: 79.6%
- At a typical address: 63.5%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
22. New York City Metro: New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
- At a good address: 79.6%
- At a typical address: 62.9%
- Best scored location: 85.0%
- Weakest scored location: 49.0%
Key Insights
Cities cluster tightly: The difference between the #1 city (Houston at 84.5%) and the #22 city (New York City at 79.6%) is 4.90 percentage points. Shoe Stores score within 0.8 points across the top two metros. Picking the right city is not the lever here.
National average: Across all 22 analyzed cities, the average survivability for a Shoe Store is 68.6%.
What Makes These Cities Stand Out?
The top-ranked cities share several characteristics that favor Shoe Stores:
- Strong survivability signals: Houston leads with a 77% average chance of lasting two or more years for Shoe Stores: significantly above the national average for this business category.
- Competition density: The top cities show favorable competitor-to-opportunity ratios for Shoe Stores, meaning lower saturation and higher odds of capturing an underserved customer base.
- Low market saturation: Top cities for Shoe Stores have fewer direct competitors per square mile than lower-ranked metros, leaving meaningful whitespace for well-positioned new entrants.
- Regulatory environment: Top-ranked cities tend to have streamlined commercial permitting and lower business tax burdens relative to their metro size, reducing friction for new operators.
StreetSpring's AI models project the survivability of businesses in every major U.S. neighborhood, so agents and entrepreneurs can weigh a location before opening day. Our models are built using machine learning trained on millions of commercial real estate data points. StreetSpring uses custom-built, proprietary algorithms to produce these predictions.
Related Resources
City-specific guides: For detailed neighborhood-level analysis, explore our city guides:
- Business Survivability Rankings: Houston
- Business Survivability Rankings: Charlotte
- Business Survivability Rankings: Phoenix
- Business Survivability Rankings: Atlanta
National guides:
How current is this ranking?
Rankings are updated quarterly. The current data reflects StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, with the next full dataset refresh scheduled for Q3 2026. As market conditions shift across major metros, individual city scores can move meaningfully between updates: particularly for Shoe Stores, where local competition density and consumer spending patterns respond quickly to new entrants and neighborhood change. For the most current score at any specific address, use StreetSpring's live survivability tool rather than the static ranking above.
Can a Shoe Store succeed in cities not ranked in the top 10?
Yes, our top 10 ranking reflects cities with the strongest average conditions, but lower-ranked metros can still contain exceptional individual neighborhoods. Many operators successfully open Shoe Stores in cities that don't appear in our top 10. Shoe Stores in particular can find strong performance in secondary markets where the right demographic concentration, household income, and limited direct competition within walking distance align, even outside our highest-ranked cities. StreetSpring's neighborhood-level data surfaces these pockets of opportunity in every city we analyze, regardless of where the city as a whole ranks nationally.
What tools can help me choose the right city for a Shoe Store?
StreetSpring's Survivability Score tool provides address-level predictions for Shoe Stores across all 22 metros we track. For this category specifically, the model reads competition density, the consumer spending index for Shoe Stores, and Census neighborhood characteristics such as the housing vacancy rate, and turns them into the projected chance that a Shoe Store lasts two or more years at a given address. You can check any specific address before signing a lease and compare multiple neighborhoods side by side to identify the highest-survivability site within your target city.
Try the Survivability Score tool →
Which US city has the best survivability for Shoe Stores?
Houston ranks as the #1 city in the US for Shoe Stores survivability in StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, with an average 77% chance of lasting two or more years. This means that across well-selected neighborhoods in Houston, a Shoe Store has approximately a 77% chance of still operating after two years, above the national average for this category. Charlotte ranks second, followed by Denver. The full ranking reflects data across 22 major US metro areas: see the complete list above for all scores and neighborhood-level links.
Last reviewed: October 2026 by Robert Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring
Technical note: Aggregated national survivability rankings across all 24 metros are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
StreetSpring recalculates survivability using the latest competitive, demographic, and walkability data, so the live score may differ from the static ranges shown here.
Methodology: Each metro's figures pool the scored locations in its published neighborhoods. Metros are ranked the way the national data file ranks them, on the chance of lasting two or more years at a good address; the typical-address figure is shown alongside. Coverage includes 22 major US metropolitan areas: Houston, Charlotte, Denver, Phoenix, Atlanta, Orlando, Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Louis, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, San Diego, San Francisco, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Boston, Portland, New York City. 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.