Small business survey paints northeast Johnson County in favorable light

Kansas' scorecard from the report. Click to enlarge.

That’s according to the results of a national survey recently released by Thumbtack.com in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation. The survey asked 6,200 small business owners how they perceived the difficulty of starting a new business in their area, how much support they get from local governments and agencies, and how much it costs to bring on new talent, among other items.

The results found that the Kansas City metro area outpaces central and western Kansas in terms of perceived small business friendliness. Sander Daniels, the Thumbtack.com co-founder who helped spearhead the survey, reports that Northeast Johnson County scored better than the rest of the Kansas City metro area in terms of the costs associated with hiring an additional employee and the friendliness of its employment, labor and hiring regulations. The area also scored better than the rest of the Kansas City metro area for the general level of support from the local government for small business.

But northeast Johnson County area scored lower in terms of the business friendliness of its zoning requirements and environmental regulations. Overall, Kansas received an A- grade in the report.