This year, our team set out to produce proprietary data surrounding the healthcare startup ecosystem, more specifically, with the hope of identifying the top 50 U.S. cities for healthcare startups. Historically, these trends – or even the widely known reputation of certain cities – have followed the investment dollar, rather than looking at what truly makes a city suitable for a startup. This study aims to identify ecosystems conducive to health startups in various markets, emphasizing affordability and innovation potential beyond traditional hubs.

The Health Startup Index was built by compiling metro-level data on startup activity, venture investment, talent supply, and ecosystem strength from publicly available and proprietary sources. Each metric was normalized to allow comparability across markets and then weighted to reflect its relative importance in supporting health startup growth. Correlation analysis was used to test relationships between variables and to ensure that no single factor disproportionately drove the index results.

The results: The Top 50 US Cities for Healthcare Startups

#1 NEW YORK CITY
#2 LOS ANGELES
#3 CHICAGO
#4 PHILADELPHIA
#5 BOSTON 
#6 DALLAS
#7 WASHINGTON, D.C.
#8 SAN FRANCISCO
#9 HOUSTON
#10 PHOENIX
#11 ATLANTA
#12 MIAMI
#13 SEATTLE
#14 MINNEAPOLIS
#15 BALTIMORE
#16 DETROIT
#17 KANSAS CITY
#18 TAMPA
#19 ST. LOUIS
#20 ORLANDO
#21 SAN DIEGO
#22 NASHVILLE
#23 DENVER
#24 SAN ANTONIO
#25 RIVERSIDE
#26 CINCINNATI 
#27 AUSTIN
#28 PITTSBURGH 
#29 CHARLOTTE 
#30 PORTLAND 
#31 INDIANAPOLIS 
#32 LAS VEGAS
#33 SAN JOSE 
#34 CLEVELAND 
#35 COLUMBUS
#36 OMAHA
#37 MIDLAND
#38 SACRAMENTO 
#39 MILWAUKEE 
#40 MEMPHIS
#41 DURHAM
#42 SALT LAKE CITY 
#43 RALEIGH 
#44 JACKSONVILLE 
#45 OKLAHOMA CITY 
#46 KNOXVILLE
#47 LOUISVILLE
#48 BOISE
#49 VIRGINIA BEACH
#50 GREENVILLE