Entrepreneur Magazine

Whatever your entrepreneurial aspirations, there's a city to match your needs, accelerate your company's growth and improve your quality of life. Which is the one for you? Entrepreneur identifies 50 cities and 10 lifestyles energizing businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Even in harsh economic times, America is still the land of opportunity, especially for entrepreneurs with the vision, ambition and flexibility to follow that opportunity wherever it may lead. In an increasingly connected world, no longer are businesses or their owners tethered to one spot on the map: Whether you're sizing up a regional opportunity, looking for a change of scenery or simply desiring a certain lifestyle, there's a location and culture that's perfect for you.

The challenge is identifying which spot is the best fit. Entrepreneur selected 10 contemporary American lifestyles and 50 related cities to complement all kinds of business types. Whether you're looking for tropical breezes, crisp mountain air, crowded city streets or wide, open spaces, they're all here.

Our methodology is as far-ranging as the list itself, incorporating statistical data, lifestyle studies and empirical research. Some choices may seem to be no-brainers, others may surprise you, and still others may have you reconsidering segments of the U.S. in a whole new light. That's the essence of American business: The only constant is change.

Detroit

Off the Grid
One of five cities where entrepreneurs have the latitude to forge their own paths

Detroit sits poised on the brink of economic collapse--and on the cusp of a post-industrial renaissance. Artists and iconoclasts are moving to this city in droves, purchasing foreclosed properties and relying on solar energy and other alternative solutions to pursue lives and careers outside the margins of mainstream society. Officials are looking to reinvent blighted segments of the city as urban farms. Detroit is dead--long live Detroit.

Emerging technologies: Biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, cognotechnology and hydrogen fuel cell development

160: Number of startups in the nonprofit TechTown incubator in central Motown

Population: 912,062

Median resident age: 30.9 years

Mean housing price: $103,647

Related Destinations
Portland, Ore.
Although life in Portland conforms solely to nonconformity, it's also the site of more than 1,200 tech companies.

Burlington, Vt.
This counterculture enclave boasts a resilient economy based on manufacturing, education, health services, trade, transportation and utilities.

Boise, Idaho
A uniquely urbane locale with a robust creative community, the onetime supply center for Rocky Mountain mining camps is now the site of a burgeoning high-tech industry.

Berkeley, Calif.
Berkeley still thrives as a nexus of liberal activism and progressive beliefs--along with opportunities in educational, scientific and technical services.

25%: Portion of the 139-square-mile city proposed as agricultural green zones

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