Low unemployment makes Sioux Falls best small city for businesses

Widespread joblessness in many areas of the country has played a significant role in the relocation of many companies and their employees. A new Forbes study says that Sioux Falls, South Dakota, continues to have the best business conditions of any small city in the country.

Sioux Falls took the magazine's top spot for the seventh consecutive year. The city boasts low crime rates, an expanding economy and low cost of business. The state also doesn't have an individual or corporate income tax, which can create a significant boost in income for anyone moving into the state.

And while unemployment there has doubled over the last three years, it still stands at just 4.3 percent. The higher unemployment rate has actually helped many companies, the magazine reports, because they sometimes had trouble finding enough job seekers to fill available jobs.

But analysts say that the continued high rate of unemployment nationwide is making it difficult for moving families to sell their home, as Bloomberg reports. Even if they can, tightened mortgage lending standards are making it more difficult for them to get a new loan following the move.

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