St. Louis among most affordable cities to do business
St. Louis Business Journal
March 30, 2010
St. Louis is one of the most affordable cities in the nation to do business, a new study shows.
St. Louis ranked sixth with a cost index of 97.8, benefiting from competitive salary and wage costs and low industry lease costs, according to a report released Tuesday by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP.
St. Louis tied with Chicago for the lowest industrial-lease cost among the 22 large cities in the study.
Tampa, Fla., ranked as the cheapest place to do business, while San Francisco ranked as the most expensive among the 22 U.S. cities with populations of at least 2 million.
Honolulu is most expensive U.S. city to do business with a cost index of 107.3 in the study's small-cities category.
New York-based KPMG's 2010 Competitive Alternatives study measured 26 cost components, including labor, taxes, real estate and utilities, as they apply to 17 industries, over a 10-year planning horizon, as well as data on a variety of non-cost-competitive factors.
How cities compare by cost index
1. Tampa, Fla., 96.0
2. Atlanta, 96.3
3. Miami, 97.0
4. Baltimore 97.1
5. Dallas-Fort Worth, 97.7
6. St. Louis, 97.8
7. Houston, 97.9
8. Phoenix, 98.1
9. Philadelphia, 98.3
10. Detroit, 98.5
11. Chicago, 98.8
12. Portland, 98.9
13. Minneapolis, 99.0
14. North Virginia (Metro D.C.), 99.0
15. Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., 99.5
16. Denver, 99.6
17. Seattle, 100.1
18. Boston, 100.8
19. San Diego, 100.9
20. Los Angeles, 101.4
21. New York, 102.0
22. San Francisco, 104.1
