Move over, Brooklyn and San Francisco. The second wave of the startup economy is here, and St. Louis is leading the way.
A new ranking from Popular Mechanics magazine names St. Louis as the top startup city in America thanks to the city’s Arch Grants program, cheap rent, great restaurants and craft breweries, supportive elected officials and colleges, and recent revitalization.
“The city is a patchwork of parks, funky old neighborhoods, and grand stone homes, but now a current of commerce races beneath it,” Popular Mechanics says about St. Louis. “The new business corridor starts at the riverfront and reaches eight miles west. In two years, when the Gateway Arch park renovation is finished, entrepreneurship, which gave St. Louis its start, will have long since jump-started its rebirth.”