11/09/2026
A new national list of America’s most entrepreneurial college towns suggests that Cortland has strong potential, with the city placing in the top 10.
The ranking from website hosting company GoDaddy put Cortland fifth in a group topped by Stanford, California, home to Stanford University.
“When we think about college towns, we often focus on the schools exclusively, but there’s an entire small business economy anchored to the school,” said Alexandra Rosen, GoDaddy’s small business economist.
“Entrepreneurship is accelerating across the country in communities of all sizes and demographics, and the microbusiness growth we’re seeing in college towns is a testament to that,” she noted. “With our Most Entrepreneurial College Towns ranking, we see this ecosystem come alive as students, university faculty and local residents build alongside one another, driving positive economic impact for the whole community.”
The company analyzed small business data from large student campuses to smaller towns across the U.S., with rankings designed to highlight where entrepreneurship is accelerating, and show which college towns are leading the way in the creation of new small businesses.
Data used for analysis included:
- Entrepreneur survey results, with direct input from more than 70,000 microbusiness owners.
- The Microbusiness Activity Index, developed by economists at the UCLA Anderson Forecast in partnership with the GoDaddy Small Business Research Lab that measures how active and healthy a community’s microbusinesses were from July 2025 to June 2026.
- Microbusiness density, a dataset used to gain comprehensive insight into the quantity and distribution of active small and micro-businesses.
- Microbusiness industry and commerce, a dataset used to gain insight into the online commercial activity trends of microbusinesses by industry.
GoDaddy defines microbusinesses as companies that employ less than 10 people.
While the research does not identify business owners by age or student status, it highlights growing business communities where students could explore those ambitions.
SUNY Cortland has been part of the Cortland’s growth through its Economics Department and annual Innovation Day. The event connects local business owners with student entrepreneurs, some of whom this year gained attention — and funding — from Adam Weitsman, owner and chief executive officer of Upstate Shredding - Weitsman Recycling, the largest privately held scrap metal processing and recycling company on the East Coast.
In 2025, a student startup NIL Finder excelled in the New York Business Plan Competition, making the final round to win $10,000.
In addition, the university plans to open a hub for entrepreneurship and workforce development at 157 Main Street in the coming months, connecting students with more opportunities to work alongside local businesses.