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Austin rings in spot among best U.S. cities to celebrate New Year's Eve

Austin is a good bet for New Year's Eve fun.

When it comes to being the life of the party, few cities are as fun as Austin. Personal finance website WalletHub released its ranking for the Best Places for New Year's Eve Celebrations, and the Capital City lands in the top 30.

To determine the best cities, WalletHub examined 100 of the country's biggest cities, analyzing them based on 28 indicators for "an epic New Year's Eve." Those indicators included everything from hotel prices to average price of a New Year’s Eve party ticket to weather.

Austin comes in as the No. 27 best city in the U.S. to celebrate the coming year. The city landed in 20th place for entertainment and food options — its best showing in the report. However, Austin ranked 77th for safety and 67th for costs. (Unsurprisingly, New York City ranked first in terms of cost. According to WalletHub, dinner and show for two people in the Big Apple on New Year's Eve costs an average of $1,160.)

If you plan to ring in 2019 elsewhere, Texas boasts plenty of options. San Antonio landed at No. 16 on this list, with Dallas right behind at No. 17 and Houston at No. 22. El Paso took the 35th spot and Fort Worth landed at No. 46.

So where is the worst place to celebrate New Year's Eve? That ball was dropped on Garland, Texas, which came in at No. 100. According to WalletHub, not only is Garland a boring place for the holiday (No. 98 for entertainment options and No. 99 for nightlife options per capita), it's also rather expensive, ranking 90th in costs.

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Texas ranks No. 2 best state to start a small business in new report

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

“Entrepreneurship is driven by the desire for independence,” Capital on Tap COO Damian Brychcy said.

Texas regularly ranks highly among business-friendly states, earning the No. 1 spot in Chief Executive magazine's recent annual report and the No. 5 spot in a February study of the best states for female entrepreneurs. Now, new research shows the Lone Star State stands out as one of the best places to start a small business, specifically.

Business credit card experts Capital on Tap determined Texas is the second best state to start a small business, right after Florida. They retrieved their data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics based on several factors, including new firm survival rates, corporate tax rates, the number of entrepreneurs per state, and more.

Texas has very friendly tax frameworks when it comes to small businesses; it is one of five total states that don’t impose any income tax. Furthermore, all Texas businesses that make less than $1.08 million in revenue don’t owe any franchise tax. That also includes all businesses that have less than $1,000 in tax liability.

If a small business owner in Texas needed to take out a loan, they’d be able to secure $4,811 per employee, which is the fifth-highest average loan amount in a calculation of all 50 states.

Capital on Tap COO Damian Brychcy says in a release that the decision to start a small business involves assessing several factors and risks, but he hopes his team’s research can provide future guidance for businesses and entrepreneurs no matter where they reside.

“Entrepreneurship is driven by the desire for independence,” he says. “This includes the freedom to pursue your passion, choose your workplace and working hours, and foster personal growth.”

Florida earned its top spot in the report due to its strong support of local economies with the highest number of jobs created by start-ups per 1,000 residents in the state. However, unlike Texas, Florida small businesses have to pay a 5.5 percent corporate tax rate.

The top states that are the best places to start a small business include:

No. 1 – Florida
No. 2 – Texas
No. 3 – Idaho
No. 4 – Nevada
No. 5 – North Carolina
No. 6 – Colorado
No. 7 – Washington
No. 8 – Georgia
No. 9 – California and Montana (tied)
No. 10 – Utah

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