Redmond has been named the second-best small city to start a business.

This ranking is according to a study conducted by NerdWallet.com, a website “focused on helping people lead better lives through financial education and empowerment.”

Jonathan Todd, an economic writer for NerdWallet, said these originally began as statewide studies before they decided to expand it to a nationwide study.

“This is the first national study we’ve done,” he said.

For the national study, he said they looked at 463 small cities — with populations between 50,000 and 100,000 — from around the country.

“The announcement of Redmond as one of the top two cities in the nation to start a business, reinforces the work the city and its partners are doing to create a vibrant economy,” said Redmond Mayor John Marchione. “Redmond is a great place for entrepreneurs to launch their ideas and for existing companies to expand their markets.”

As stated in the NerdWallet study, “Redmond is home to Microsoft, which is a huge boon for entrepreneurs. According to research by economist Enrico Moretti, each job in the technology sector creates an additional five jobs in the local economy. With this kind of anchor in Redmond’s business community, entrepreneurs are likely salivating at the opportunities.”

For Amy Lewallen, opening Iron Tribe Fitness in downtown Redmond was initially about just finding a space that was available and affordable. And while the business owner admitted to not knowing much about Redmond initially, since she opened her business — which is focused on small-group fitness training — she has found she really likes being in downtown (8451 164th Ave. N.E., Suite 100).

Lewallen said since Iron Tribe opened its doors in January, she has been able to meet and form relationships with other local business owners.

“Just really, really nice people,” she said about them, adding that everyone really looks out for one another.

Lewallen said another thing that has helped her in these early days of her business has been OneRedmond focusing on small businesses and making sure they know they bring value to the community.

While Lewallen did not specifically set out to open her business in Redmond, Jason Bailey did.

The owner of Prime Steakhouse (16330 Cleveland St.) had previously been part of the opening team for Matador that brought that restaurant to downtown Redmond. He said that received a good reception so when he was looking to open a restaurant, he looked at about a half dozen locations in the Redmond area. Although, he added, he and his team wanted to stay close to the downtown core.

Bailey also said he chose Redmond because the city did not have a strong steak presence and thought it would be a great demographic to serve.

Since Prime opened in October 2014, he said they have faced the typical ups and downs that a new business would face, and overall, business has been good. They even have regulars now.

“The reception’s been good,” he said about the Redmond community.

The top city on the NerdWallet list is Alpharetta, Ga. Todd noted that the top 10 cities on the list are scattered throughout the country, but did point out that there are a few cities around the Great Lakes.

“It’s a pretty broad (group of cities),” he said about the top 10 list makers.

Todd said when developing the methodology for the study, they worked with NerdWallet’s small business team, coming up with two categories: the local business environment and local economic health.

With the former, he said they looked at a number of factors. There was the average revenue per business; the number of companies with hired employees, versus sole proprietorships; and businesses per 100 residents.

According to the NerdWallet study, Redmond’s average revenue per business is $7.4 million (the highest in the top 10 communities and according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 Survey of Business Owners); 35.85 percent of local businesses have paid employees and there are 11.33 businesses per 100 people.

For local economic health, Todd said they looked at the cities’ median annual household income ($96,183 for Redmond) and median housing cost ($2,354 per month for Redmond). These figures were provided by the U.S. Census Bureau for 2013, the last year with available data.

NerdWallet also looked at the cities’ unemployment rate (4.4 percent in Redmond).