Business Survivability in Ballard, Seattle
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Ballard is a Chiropractor Office with a 83.8% 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 Chiropractor Office in Ballard (83.8% average survival rate, 90.0% at best locations)
- Neighborhood rank: #43 of 94 neighborhoods in and around Seattle
- Neighborhood average: 74.0% 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 Ballard 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 Ballard is a Chiropractor Office with a 83.8% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a 90.0% chance; next is a Veterinary Clinic with a 83.2% chance, followed by an Eye Care Center with a 82.7% chance.
Is Ballard a good place to start a business?
Among the 94 neighborhoods StreetSpring ranks in and around Seattle, Ballard ranks #43 for business survivability, with an average 74.0% chance of lasting two or more years.
- In Ballard, the strongest addresses for the top-ranked business type sit 6.2 points above that type's average.
- That said, the same business types at the worst-fit addresses in Ballard can drop substantially below average. The survivability gap between the best and worst addresses in a single neighborhood can be 20 points or more.
- Housing vacancy in Ballard sits at 6.7%, a Census figure that StreetSpring's model reads for every business type it scores here.
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 Ballard?
StreetSpring's model evaluates every available address in Ballard for your business type, ranking them by survivability so the best storefront is always identifiable. The location below represents the address in Ballard with the highest projected survivability for a Chiropractor Office:
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis of hundreds of location-specific factors, this area offers the highest projected survivability for a Chiropractor Office in Ballard. 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 are the best businesses to open in Ballard?
| # | Business type | Chance of lasting two or more years at a good address |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chiropractor Office | 90.0% |
| 2 | Veterinary Clinic | 89.6% |
| 3 | Eye Care Center | 89.6% |
| 4 | Dentist Office | 88.3% |
| 5 | Acupuncture Clinic | 87.9% |
| 9 | Convenience Store | 84.6% |
| 10 | Florist | 84.6% |
| 20 | Cafe | 84.0% |
| 22 | Coffee Shop | 84.0% |
| 23 | Gym | 84.0% |
Ties at a good address: Veterinary Clinic and Eye Care Center are tied; Convenience Store and Florist are tied; Cafe, Coffee Shop 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 Ballard
- #1 Chiropractor Office: 83.8% on average across Ballard; best at 90.0%, challenging at 56.4%.
- #2 Opening a Veterinary Clinic in Ballard shows 83.2% average survivability. Top locations reach 89.6%; lower-end sites show 62.4%.
- #3 Eye Care Center (Ranked #3): 82.7% average in Ballard. Best-case storefronts: 89.6%. Challenging locations: 56.8%.
- #4 Dentist Office is ranked #4 for top businesses to open in Ballard: 78.0% chance on average, best at 89.2%, challenging at 56.0%.
- #5 Acupuncture Clinic: 77.3% on average across Ballard; best at 89.2%, challenging at 56.0%.
Strong Performers in Ballard
- #9 Opening a Convenience Store in Ballard shows 81.8% average survivability. Top locations reach 85.0%; lower-end sites show 54.4%.
- #10 Florist (Ranked #10): 77.7% average in Ballard. Best-case storefronts: 84.6%. Challenging locations: 49.9%.
- #20 Cafe is ranked #20 for top businesses to open in Ballard: 80.9% chance on average, best at 84.0%, challenging at 48.9%.
- #22 Coffee Shop: 80.5% on average across Ballard; best at 84.0%, challenging at 50.7%.
- #23 Opening a Gym in Ballard shows 80.0% average survivability. Top locations reach 84.0%; lower-end sites show 48.0%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Chiropractor Office: See how this compares to other cities →
- Veterinary Clinic: See how this compares to other cities →
- Eye Care Center: See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Ballard make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, choosing a high-performing site for your concept in Ballard 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
- The right address for one business type may be the wrong one for another: always evaluate fit for your specific concept.
- Location is one of the few things about a new business you can measure before it opens.
- Compare the Revenue Capture Score of each shortlisted address first: it is the top factor in choosing a location, and it estimates the revenue a business can capture there.
- No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 500+ business types the way StreetSpring does.
What businesses should open next in Ballard?
The top businesses to open next in Ballard:
- Chiropractor Offices: 83.8% average survival rate, 90.0% at the best address
- Veterinary Clinics: 83.2% average survival rate
- Eye Care Centers: 82.7% average survival rate
Neighborhood-level averages are a starting point: the exact address will determine your actual survivability score. Our training data spans 500+ business types across 24 major metros, giving our models the breadth to predict outcomes across nearly any commercial concept. 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 Ballard draw on real Census conditions, including 95.8% employment and 6.7% housing vacancy, alongside competition and consumer spending. StreetSpring regularly refreshes survivability scores to reflect new competition and updated spending data: see which locations in Ballard are available right now and how they rank.
See the Survivability Score for your new business
Related Articles:
- See the Seattle Business Survivability Rankings
- See the Seattle Neighborhood Survivability Rankings
- Explore Chiropractor Office survivability across Seattle neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Ballard.
What type of business should you rent your Ballard storefront to?
Based on 2026 survivability scores across all business types in Ballard, the top three tenant categories for landlords are Chiropractor Offices, Veterinary Clinics, and Eye Care Centers.
- Location is one of the few things about a new business you can measure before it opens.
- No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 500+ business types the way StreetSpring does. Landlords can use StreetSpring to match their exact address to the tenant types most likely to stay open and paying rent for two or more years.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Seattle Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Ballard storefront to a Chiropractor Office?
According to our 2026 survivability model, a Chiropractor Office leads all business categories for Ballard landlords: 90.0% at the best addresses and 56.4% at the most challenging ones in this neighborhood.
- No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 500+ business types the way StreetSpring does.
What should I consider when opening a business in Ballard?
When opening a business in Ballard, compare the Survivability Scores of your shortlisted addresses and favor the highest one your budget allows.
- 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 uses its own proprietary forecasting tools to identify the Revenue Capture Score for each unique business.
- The most current survivability data for Ballard is on StreetSpring, and a free 10-minute trial is enough to check your specific address.
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 Seattle are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
Full dataset for Seattle: /resources/data/seattle-survivability-scores-2026.csv: includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.