Kosmont Companies and the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College present the 2011 Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey©. The 2011 Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey uses a proprietary basket of costs approach to compare government fees as determinants of what drives businesses' location choices. The Survey objectively compares 421 cities nationwide based on the array of taxes and fees cities impose on businesses and significantly affect business interests such as sales, utility, income, property, and business taxes.
The Survey examines numerous types of fees, and each city has a unique approach to taxation and exaction. It is generally true that more populated cities are more expensive, and taxes are higher to support a more extensive infrastructure. This is the reason that the most populated city in the United States, New York City, is consistently in the top five most expensive cities. In this year’s Survey, all of the cities in the top twenty have populations of over 100,000 people.
In 2011, the Cost of Doing Business Survey celebrates its seventeenth year of publication and its seventh year since the Kosmont Companies began its partnership with the Rose Institute of State and Local Government. The goal of the Survey is to provide information about the costs required to operate a business in various cities across the country. Such information is of particular interest to, among others, real estate and business professionals, city and county governments, and business and economic associations. The Survey’s detailed profiles of hundreds of cities nationwide enable these individuals to easily compare the costs of doing business in different communities. The ability to compare these costs helps with important business decisions, like where to locate a specific project or even where to relocate the business itself.
