Houston, TX Received Small Business Accolade from Fortune Magazine

Houston may have a bad reputation for its hot weather and heavy traffic, but when it comes to starting a small business, the city is one cool kid.

Fortune Small Business has ranked the Bayou City No. 4 among the top large metro areas for business start-ups.

Fortune raves about Houston’s ability to weather the current recession, the addition of 500,000 new jobs over the past five years, and the city government’s work on curbing pollution, diversifying the economy and investing in public transportation. And of course, there’s the Texas Medical Center and the city’s ranking as the largest municipal purchaser of green power in the country, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

However, Fortune did bring up that pesky Mother Nature issue, and the fact that businesses are now having a tough time finding hurricane insurance.

But, weather didn’t stop Fortune from naming tornado-prone Oklahoma City as the best city for starting a small business. Despite its weather issues, OK City received kudos for its low foreclosure rate as well as the large number of local investors just itching to lend money. Rounding out the top four were Pittsburgh and Raleigh, N.C.