Austin, Texas made it onto a top ten list of the United States large cities with the youngest entrepreneurs. According to LendingTree, Austin is tenth in the nation for the young age of its entrepreneurs, who came in at a 39.02 average founder age. By percent of new business founders by generation, Gen X was the largest group in Austin at 42.3 percent, and Millennials were next at 37.8 percent. The Baby Boomers of Austin make up 16.6 percent of Austin entrepreneurial founders, with the Silent generation making up 1.9 percent, and Gen Z making up 1.3 percent.
The top five cities were Salt Lake, with an average founder age of 37.81, Buffalo with an average founder age of 37.91, New Orleans with an average founder age of 37.95, Oklahoma City with an average founder age of 37.97, and Charlotte with an average founder age of 38.21. Rounding out the top ten were Minneapolis with an average founder age of 38.74, St. Louis with an average founder age of 38.77, Portland with an average founder age of 38.79, and Milwaukee with an average founder age of 38.98.
At the bottom of the 50 ranked cities were Hartford, San Jose, and Providence, where average founder age was over 42.
While a five year gap between the top and bottom cities might seem small, LendingTree asserted these differences can be substantial in that they represent “many factors that work for — or against — entrepreneurs in each city.” The ten cities with the lowest age are considered “to have some of the lowest barriers to enter entrepreneurship.” Additionally, “these are the cities where young entrepreneurs are more quickly reaching their goal to form a business of their own.”