Free resource · San Francisco

Free San Francisco business-location research for entrepreneurs

Covering the San Francisco metro, including Oakland. No account, no paywall, nothing to buy. Built for anyone deciding where to open, and for the people who advise them.

What the Survivability Score measures

The projected chance that a specific business type lasts two or more years at a specific address.

The decision this is meant to help with

Most people choose a location on rent, on a walk-through, and on a feeling about foot traffic. Those are the things you can see standing on the sidewalk. What you cannot see is whether that block has actually supported your kind of business over time, or whether the businesses that lasted there were a different kind entirely.

That question is answerable before a lease is signed, and it is what this research covers for San Francisco.

Five things the San Francisco data shows

1. Location matters more for some businesses than others

Across 107 ranked San Francisco neighborhoods, the projected chance of lasting two or more years at a good address runs from 48.3% to 84.0%† for Bar, a spread of 35.7† percentage points, and from 62.8% to 89.6% for Dentist, a spread of 26.8, the narrowest fully measured range in San Francisco (section 3 says what that means). The address matters more for one than for the other.

This is the single most useful thing to tell someone early. It tells them how much of their energy belongs on the site search.

2. The businesses where the address matters most in San Francisco

Business typeGood-address range across ranked San Francisco neighborhoodsSpreadHow San Francisco ranks (of 22 metros compared)
Bar48.3% to 84.0%†35.7† pp#21 of 22 metros
Brewery49.0% to 84.0%†35.0† pp#16 of 22 metros
Dance & Night Clubs51.1% to 86.0%†34.9† pp#17 of 22 metros
Pet Boarding49.9% to 84.6%34.7 pp#18 of 22 metros
Grocery Store50.4% to 85.0%†34.6† pp#16 of 22 metros
Smoke Shop50.4% to 85.0%†34.6† pp#21 of 22 metros

3. The narrowest fully measured ranges in San Francisco

A range is fully measured when neither end draws on a scored location sitting at the highest or lowest figure the national file gives that business type in San Francisco. 22 of the 129 business types ranked across San Francisco neighborhoods qualify. A range that reaches either limit is measured only up to that limit, so it could be wider than it prints, and it is left out of this table.

Business typeGood-address range across ranked San Francisco neighborhoodsSpreadHow San Francisco ranks (of 22 metros compared)
Dentist62.8% to 89.6%26.8 pp#20 of 22 metros
Acupuncture62.4% to 89.6%27.2 pp#17 of 22 metros
Psychiatrists & Psychologists62.4% to 89.6%27.2 pp#18 of 22 metros
Barber Shop55.6% to 83.6%28.0 pp#16 of 22 metros
Tanning55.6% to 83.6%28.0 pp#16 of 22 metros

Business types that share every figure in a row are shown together, never cut by name.

† the highest figure the national file gives that business type anywhere in San Francisco. Ranked neighborhoods can share it, and a range or spread that reaches it is measured up to that limit, not beyond it.

4. The business types where San Francisco ranks highest against other metros

Business typeSan Francisco at a good addressTypical addressHow San Francisco ranks (of 22 metros compared)Against the top other metro
Coffee Shop83.5%70.8%#2 of 22 metroslevel
Gym83.1%67.3%#3 of 22 metroslevel
Cafe83.5%70.0%#5 of 22 metroslevel
Hair Salon83.1%69.1%#6 of 22 metrosbehind by 0.4 pts
Laundromat83.1%66.5%#6 of 22 metrosbehind by 0.9 pts

5. The neighborhood picture

Across 107 ranked San Francisco neighborhoods, West Berkeley ranks first, at 84.0% projected two-year survival at a good address (78.0% at a typical address). Colony Park ranks last, at 55.2% (52.3% at a typical address).

Averages hide the thing that matters. A single block can beat an entire neighborhood's ranking. Use the neighborhood view to narrow a search, not to rule an area out.

What is free here

How advisors and program staff use this

Methodology, and what this is not

The model is trained on 570,000+ historical business outcomes across 24 U.S. metros and weighs 100+ location factors. The most important number in a location decision is our proprietary Revenue Capture Score: the revenue a business can capture at that address, from its projected market share against forecasted local spend. StreetSpring scores 500+ business types: 153 base business types, most of them at 5 price points, which is 569 type-and-price combinations you can choose in the tool. The figures on this page come from the published files, which carry one figure per base business type, averaged across its price points.

Data version 2026.10.05 (as of 2026-10-05). Geographic scope: the San Francisco metro area, 210 neighborhoods. "At a good address" is the 90th percentile of a neighborhood's scored locations, the figure the files rank on; ranks against other metros count the 22 metros compared, in the national file's own order.

This is decision support, not a guarantee. A projected two-year survival figure is a probability drawn from how comparable businesses have performed at comparable locations. It does not account for the operator, the concept, the capital behind it, or the lease terms, and no location score can promise a business will succeed or predict that one will fail. Treat it as one input among several.

For chambers, EDOs, libraries, and business-support organizations

This page is free and open on purpose. If it would be useful to the people you serve, you are welcome to share it, add it to a resource list, or use it in advising. Nothing is expected in return.

Ready-to-use description

StreetSpring publishes free neighborhood-level research on how likely different business types are to last at least two years in San Francisco. It covers 210 neighborhoods and 146 business types, updates as the underlying data does, and needs no account to read.

Direct link

https://streetspring.com/partners/san-francisco.html

Where it tends to fit

Business Planning, Market Research, Site Selection, or Starting a Business.

Also available at no cost

San Francisco organizations worth knowing

If you are starting a business here, these are the people to talk to before you talk to us:

Contact

I am Bobby, the founder. I built StreetSpring after watching good operators sign leases on blocks that had never supported their kind of business. If you want the PDF, want to book a session, or think something on this page is wrong, write to me directly.

Bobby | StreetSpring

Data version 2026.10.05 (as of 2026-10-05). Neighborhood and business-type figures from the published San Francisco file and the national file. Survivability is shown throughout as the projected chance of lasting two or more years. Aggregate results only, no address-level data.