How much money could a business in Allston make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Allston could lead to making ~2% more than selecting an average location, and ~4% more than one of the worst locations.

What businesses are most in demand in Allston?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Allston are Indonesian Restaurants, Pet Grooming Shops, and Japanese / Sushi Restaurants.

What are the best businesses to open in Allston?

The top businesses to open in Allston include Indonesian Restaurant with a ~84% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~86%, followed by Pet Grooming Shop and Japanese / Sushi Restaurant.

Is Allston a good place to start a business?

Allston is ranked number 22 across neighborhoods in and around Boston to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~77%. At the strongest addresses in Allston, the most viable business types score ~2% higher than the average survivability rate across all locations.

Business Survivability in Allston, Boston

Name: Allston (Boston) Business Type Survivability Rankings 2026
Creator: StreetSpring
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Allston is an Indonesian Restaurant with a ~84% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•13 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: an Indonesian Restaurant in Allston (~84% average survival rate, ~86% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #22 across all neighborhoods in and around Boston

Neighborhood average: ~77% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Last reviewed: May 8, 2026 by Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring

In this article:

Summary
Is Allston a good place to start a business?
How to find the best location
Best businesses to open
How much money could a business make?
What businesses should open next?
Frequently Asked Questions

Summary

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Allston is an Indonesian Restaurant with a ~84% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~86% chance; next is a Pet Grooming Shop with a ~83% chance, followed by a Japanese / Sushi Restaurant with a ~83% chance.

How business-friendly is Allston right now?

Allston is the #22 most survivable neighborhood for new businesses in and around Boston, with an average score of ~77% across all analyzed categories.

At the strongest addresses in Allston, the most viable business types score ~2% higher than the average survivability rate across all locations.
However, those high-scoring categories placed at the least-competitive addresses in Allston often fall well below average. Picking the right block — not just the right neighborhood — is what actually determines survivability.
StreetSpring's model incorporates Allston's 8.5% vacancy rate as a direct input: higher vacancy concentrations suppress foot traffic and reduce survivability for nearby businesses.

Employment and vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.

How can you find the best location to open a business in Allston?

With StreetSpring, location selection in Allston moves from guesswork to a precise, address-level survivability score for any business type you're considering. StreetSpring's 2026 model ranks this area #1 in Allston for an Indonesian Restaurant:

Reading visibility, frontage, and parking carefully

Loading live map preview...

This map shows the optimal location for an Indonesian Restaurant in Allston based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. However, individual locations vary widely, and even in lower-scoring neighborhoods there are pockets that perform exceptionally well. The prediction model incorporates 100 location-specific factors, including competitive density, forecasted consumer spending, mobility patterns, and Revenue Capture Score.

Check if this location is still available →

Top-ranked business types for Allston

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Allston

Opening an Indonesian Restaurant in Allston shows ~84% average survivability. Top locations reach ~86%; lower-end sites show ~82%.
Pet Grooming Shop (Ranked #2): ~83% average in Allston. Best-case storefronts: ~85%. Challenging locations: ~81%.
Japanese / Sushi Restaurant is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Allston: ~83% chance on average, best at ~84%, challenging at ~81%.
Deli — ~80%–~84% survivability range, with an average of ~82% across Allston.
Opening a Dance Club in Allston shows ~82% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~80%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Allston

Bar (Ranked #6): ~82% average in Allston. Best-case storefronts: ~84%. Challenging locations: ~80%.
Pet Store is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Allston: ~82% chance on average, best at ~84%, challenging at ~80%.
Vietnamese Restaurant — ~80%–~83% survivability range, with an average of ~82% across Allston.
Opening a Mexican Restaurant in Allston shows ~82% average survivability. Top locations reach ~83%; lower-end sites show ~79%.
South American Restaurant (Ranked #10): ~81% average in Allston. Best-case storefronts: ~83%. Challenging locations: ~80%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

What you could earn opening a business in Allston

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, following the survivability data rather than relying on intuition or foot traffic estimates in Allston could lead to you making ~2% more than if you selected an average location, and ~4% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.

How StreetSpring calculates location value

Every business type has unique location requirements that must be considered.
The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
StreetSpring has found that selecting the location with the highest survivability score for a business is the best way to maximize the amount of money you will make.
StreetSpring provides address-specific survivability predictions for over 700 business types.

Which business types are most underserved in Allston?

The top businesses to open next in Allston:

Indonesian Restaurants — ~84% average survival rate, up to ~86% at best locations
Pet Grooming Shops — ~83% average survival rate
Japanese / Sushi Restaurants — ~83% average survival rate

However, individual locations vary widely, and even in lower-scoring neighborhoods there are pockets that perform exceptionally well. The model draws from 100+ location-specific factors to generate each survivability score. Allston's combination of 94.4% employment and 8.5% vacancy creates the conditions that define which business types thrive here and which struggle. Survivability scores are live, not static — StreetSpring updates them weekly. Visit the tool to see what's currently available in Allston and how each address is scoring right now.

See the Survivability Score for your new business

Related Articles:

See the Boston Business Survivability Rankings
See the Boston Neighborhood Survivability Rankings

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Allston.

What type of business should you rent your Allston storefront to?

Based on 2026 survivability scores across all business types in Allston, the top three tenant categories for landlords are Indonesian Restaurants, Pet Grooming Shops, and Japanese / Sushi Restaurants.

The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
StreetSpring provides address-specific survivability predictions for over 700 business types. StreetSpring allows property owners to evaluate any address against 700+ tenant types — so you can prioritize the categories that score highest at your specific location.

Should you rent your Allston storefront to an Indonesian Restaurant?

Yes, StreetSpring's analysis finds that an Indonesian Restaurant would be the best type of business to rent your storefront to, with a potential ~86% chance of lasting more than 2 years; however depending on your location, the chances could drop to a ~82% chance.

StreetSpring provides address-specific survivability predictions for over 700 business types.

What should I consider when opening a business in Allston?

Before committing to any location in Allston, the highest-priority metric to check is the Survivability Score — it encodes every relevant location factor into a single, actionable number.

Where survivability is highest, Revenue Capture Score is invariably strong — the two are tightly correlated across every business type we've analyzed.
These forecasts are generated using StreetSpring's unique analytical framework.
StreetSpring's live survivability scores are available for free — check your specific address now.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

StreetSpring's AI platform has studied businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans, giving its predictions a scale of validation unmatched in site-selection tools. Aggregated survivability rankings for Boston are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

The hidden costs of operating in this neighborhood

Factor	Where new owners get tripped up	Questions to ask before you sign
Parking & visibility	Storefront looks great from the sidewalk but is invisible from the road.	Drive past at 30 mph from both directions. Count street parking + nearest paid lot capacity at peak hours.
CAM + hidden costs	Stated rent looks great, then CAM fees, signage charges, and after-hours utilities add 15-30%.	Get the full operating expense breakdown for the past 2 years. Ask which costs are landlord-capped vs. uncapped.
Lease term	Locking into 7-10 years without break clauses, then needing to relocate after year 2.	Negotiate a relocation or termination clause. Confirm assignment + sublease rights are in writing.

Full dataset for Boston: /resources/data/boston-survivability-scores-2026.csv — includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Visual Data

Dumbbell chart comparing best vs worst locations for businesses in Boston — Best vs worst neighborhood per business type in Boston — the gap shows how much location choice matters for each subtype.

Treemap of Boston business mix by survivability score — Treemap of business mix in Boston — cell size = number of locations, color = average survivability score.

Radar chart of business-subtype survivability in Allston, Boston — Top business types scored in Allston, Boston — each axis is a subtype, taller = stronger survival rate.

How we measure this: Our gradient-boosted survivability model has 100+ input features. The waterfall shows the top 6-8 contributors to a final score.

**BLS sector context:** Across the 11 industries StreetSpring tracks, 5-year survival rates from BLS Business Employment Dynamics, March 2025 release range from **47.8%** (Active Life — gyms, studios) to **61.8%** (Health & Medical). Restaurants — the largest single category in our corpus — average **50.0%** nationally, and retail averages **47.9%**.

Related Resources

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