Adrian, MI – December 30, 2021
Research from the website SmartAsset has listed Lenawee County as the top county in the state for small business owners. When indexed and equally weighted, Lenawee County came out on top in the areas of small business income and returns. Lenawee County beat out the #2 Genesee County by 10 points in the overall small business index.
“We’ve always known Lenawee County is a great place to start and build a small business,” said Jim Van Doren, Executive Director for Lenawee Now. “We’ve invested a lot of resources in the past 5 years to create a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem and develop programs to help owners with gaining crucial entrepreneurial skills as well as access to financing, research, and more. I’m pleased to see that our hard work has finally resulted in being named the best county in the state for small business.”
SmartAsset compares a number of factors to determine how attractive a region is for small business owners including the proportion of people in the county with small business income, the reported business income, and the amount of taxes a resident must pay on their income.
It compares the number of tax returns that report small business income with the total tax-filing population of the region. Next, it compares the total amount of small business income to the overall amount of income reported in each region.
Small business owners typically pay income taxes personally on the company profits instead of the company itself paying income tax. According to the SmartAsset website, the study used the national median household income and then applied relevant deductions and exemptions before calculating federal, state, and local income taxes for each location to determine income tax burdens across counties.
“This is an indication of our success with helping small businesses start and grow through our partnership with the Launch Lenawee program, our own Business Acceleration Team (BAT), the LION Fund, and other beneficial programs for entrepreneurs,” said Tim Robinson, Director of Operations for Lenawee Now. “We have strong programs that can help our residents turn a business idea into reality.”
To view the SmartAsset interactive map, visit their website and scroll down the page. If you’d like to learn more about the entrepreneurial services offered through Lenawee Now, visit our Entrepreneur Center or call (517) 265-5141.