Business Survivability in Gowanus, New York City
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Gowanus is a Veterinary Clinic with a 78.4% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.
Quick Summary
- Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
- Best business: a Veterinary Clinic in Gowanus (78.4% average survival rate, 90.0% at best locations)
- Neighborhood rank: #48 of 180 neighborhoods in and around New York City
- Neighborhood average: 67.1% two-year survival across the business types ranked here
- 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 10 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
In this article:
- Summary
- Is Gowanus 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 Gowanus is a Veterinary Clinic with a 78.4% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a 90.0% chance; next is a Chiropractor Office with a 78.2% chance, followed by an Eye Care Center with a 78.8% chance.
Is Gowanus a good place to start a business?
StreetSpring ranks Gowanus #48 of 180 neighborhoods in and around New York City, with an average Survivability Score of 67.1% across the business types ranked there.
- At its best addresses in Gowanus, the top-ranked business type scores 11.6 points above its own average in the neighborhood.
- Even so, the weakest addresses in Gowanus for those same business types can underperform considerably. StreetSpring's address-level scoring exists precisely to identify which specific storefronts make the difference.
- The 92.6% employment rate in Gowanus supports consumer spending, while its 7.2% housing vacancy rate measures the share of homes and apartments standing empty: the model reads both as neighborhood characteristics.
Employment and housing vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
How can you find the best location to open a business in Gowanus?
The right address in Gowanus can mean a 20-point survivability difference from an average one: StreetSpring identifies exactly which addresses are worth pursuing. According to StreetSpring's 2026 data, this is the optimal address for a Veterinary Clinic in Gowanus:
The highlighted area represents the address in Gowanus that StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks highest for a Veterinary Clinic survivability. StreetSpring's survivability scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool. StreetSpring's scoring incorporates hundreds of inputs, including competitive quality and density, projected consumer spending, Revenue Capture Score, and local demand patterns.
Check if this location is still available →
What are the best businesses to open in Gowanus?
| # | Business type | Chance of lasting two or more years at a good address |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Veterinary Clinic | 90.0% |
| 2 | Chiropractor Office | 89.6% |
| 3 | Eye Care Center | 88.7% |
| 4 | Dentist Office | 87.4% |
| 5 | Physical Therapy Clinic | 87.4% |
| 9 | Convenience Store | 84.6% |
| 10 | Clothing Store | 84.6% |
| 11 | Bar | 84.0% |
| 12 | Cafe | 84.0% |
| 13 | Gym | 84.0% |
Ties at a good address: Dentist Office and Physical Therapy Clinic are tied; Convenience Store and Clothing Store are tied; Bar, Cafe and Gym are tied. A tie is a tie: the rank column is the published file's order, which looks at the average and the best address next.
The rank column is the published file's rank within this place; a skipped number is a business type the file ranks here that this list leaves out to keep any one business family from filling it.
Highest Survivability in Gowanus
- #1 Veterinary Clinic (Ranked #1): 78.4% average in Gowanus. Best-case storefronts: 90.0%. Challenging locations: 58.6%.
- #2 Chiropractor Office is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in Gowanus: 78.2% chance on average, best at 90.0%, challenging at 57.7%.
- #3 Eye Care Center: 78.8% on average across Gowanus; best at 89.6%, challenging at 56.4%.
- #4 Opening a Dentist Office in Gowanus shows 75.4% average survivability. Top locations reach 89.6%; lower-end sites show 59.0%.
- #5 Physical Therapy Clinic (Ranked #5): 74.1% average in Gowanus. Best-case storefronts: 89.6%. Challenging locations: 58.1%.
Strong Performers in Gowanus
- #9 Convenience Store is ranked #9 for top businesses to open in Gowanus: 82.1% chance on average, best at 85.0%, challenging at 58.0%.
- #10 Clothing Store: 81.7% on average across Gowanus; best at 85.0%, challenging at 52.2%.
- #11 Opening a Bar in Gowanus shows 79.5% average survivability. Top locations reach 84.0%; lower-end sites show 51.2%.
- #12 Cafe (Ranked #12): 75.7% average in Gowanus. Best-case storefronts: 84.0%. Challenging locations: 48.4%.
- #13 Gym is ranked #13 for top businesses to open in Gowanus: 74.6% chance on average, best at 84.0%, challenging at 48.0%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Veterinary Clinic: See how this compares to other cities →
- Chiropractor Office: See how this compares to other cities →
- Eye Care Center: See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Gowanus make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting a storefront that StreetSpring ranks in the top tier for your business type in Gowanus starts with the Revenue Capture Score, the most important factor in choosing a location: StreetSpring's estimate of the revenue a business can capture at that address.
How StreetSpring calculates location value
- Location fit is business-type-specific: a spot that's ideal for a coffee shop may underperform for a nail salon at the same address.
- A business's location is one of the few things about its future you can check in advance.
- When the question is money, the Revenue Capture Score comes first: it is StreetSpring's estimate of the revenue a business can capture at a specific address.
- Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for 500+ business types at any given storefront.
What businesses should open next in Gowanus?
The top businesses to open next in Gowanus:
- Veterinary Clinics: 78.4% average survival rate, 90.0% at the best address
- Chiropractor Offices: 78.2% average survival rate
- Eye Care Centers: 78.8% average survival rate
StreetSpring's survivability scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool. Our analysis covers every major metro in the country: 24 cities and 180 million++ consumers. 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. The survivability rankings for Gowanus draw on real Census conditions, including 92.6% employment and 7.2% housing vacancy, alongside competition and consumer spending. Survivability scores are live, not static: StreetSpring updates them regularly. Visit the tool to see what's currently available in Gowanus and how each address is scoring right now.
See the Survivability Score for your new business
Related Articles:
- See the New York City Business Survivability Rankings
- See the New York City Neighborhood Survivability Rankings
- Explore Veterinary Clinic survivability across New York City neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Gowanus.
What type of business should you rent your Gowanus storefront to?
Based on 2026 survivability scores across all business types in Gowanus, the top three tenant categories for landlords are Veterinary Clinics, Chiropractor Offices, and Eye Care Centers.
- A business's location is one of the few things about its future you can check in advance.
- Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for 500+ business types at any given storefront. Use StreetSpring to see the survivability score for any business type at your exact storefront address before you sign a lease.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in New York City Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Gowanus storefront to a Veterinary Clinic?
StreetSpring's data confirms a Veterinary Clinic as the highest-survivability tenant type for Gowanus. The best addresses show a 90.0% chance of lasting more than 2 years; less optimal addresses score around 58.6%.
- Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for 500+ business types at any given storefront.
What should I consider when opening a business in Gowanus?
When evaluating potential locations in Gowanus, start with the Survivability Score. It accounts for competition, spending, mobility, and market share in a single figure.
- The single most important number in a location decision is the Revenue Capture Score, StreetSpring's proprietary estimate of the revenue a business can capture at a specific address.
- These insights come from StreetSpring's exclusive, in-house forecasting models.
- You can check the Survivability Score for any storefront in Gowanus with a free 10-minute trial of StreetSpring's live tool.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
StreetSpring's AI platform has studied businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans, giving its predictions a scale of validation unmatched in site-selection tools. Aggregated survivability rankings for New York City are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
Full dataset for New York City: /resources/data/new-york-city-survivability-scores-2026.csv: includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.