What businesses are most in demand in Framingham?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Framingham are Indonesian Restaurants, South American Restaurants, and Bangladeshi Restaurants.

Is Framingham a good place to start a business?

Framingham is ranked number 64 across neighborhoods in and around Boston to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~75%. Best-case locations for the top business types in Framingham produce survivability scores ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.

How much money could a business in Framingham make?

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

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

StreetSpring's prediction model analyzes 100 factors across competition, spending on the specific potential business, projected revenue, projected market share, Revenue Capture Score, and mobility patterns to pinpoint which blocks in Framingham maximize success.

Business Survivability in Framingham, Boston

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Framingham is an Indonesian Restaurant with a ~83% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•17 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: an Indonesian Restaurant in Framingham (~83% average survival rate, ~85% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #64 across all neighborhoods in and around Boston

Neighborhood average: ~75% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Last reviewed: May 5, 2026 by Bobby Koons, StreetSpring founder — updated weekly

In this article:

Summary
Is Framingham 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 Framingham is an Indonesian Restaurant with a ~83% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~85% chance; next is a South American Restaurant with a ~83% chance, followed by a Bangladeshi Restaurant with a ~83% chance.

How business-friendly is Framingham right now?

**Peer neighborhoods:** Looking at demographic mix and amenity density across the 24 metros StreetSpring covers, Framingham clusters most tightly with **Peninsula (Los Angeles)** and **Old Town (Chicago)**. Common thread: high high-earner share, low poverty, and older housing stock. Survival outcomes for those neighborhoods provide a useful comparison set for Framingham.

**Where Framingham businesses actually fail.** Among the 93 tracked subtypes, **South American Restaurants** post the highest average survivability (83%). But across Framingham's sites, the spread for this subtype runs **66% to 96%** — a 30-point gap that says *the address matters more than the subtype*. For saturation context, Gyms are the most densely-clustered tracked subtype in the neighborhood (7 competitors within 0.5 miles).

Framingham is ranked number 64 across neighborhoods in and around Boston to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~75%.

Best-case locations for the top business types in Framingham produce survivability scores ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.
However, these same business types at the worst locations in Framingham can sometimes provide a projected Survivability Score considerably below the average. Thus, even the businesses that are most in need in Framingham could have trouble succeeding if the best location is not selected.
With 95.7% of the local population employed, Framingham presents a stable consumer base — particularly for food, beverage, and service businesses that depend on repeat discretionary spending.

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

Which blocks in Framingham offer the strongest survivability?

With StreetSpring, location selection in Framingham 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 Framingham for an Indonesian Restaurant:

The locations that show up in our top-10 lists

Loading live map preview...

The highlighted area represents the address in Framingham that StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks highest for an Indonesian Restaurant survivability. These figures represent averages across a neighborhood; your specific address may score meaningfully higher or lower depending on block-level competitive conditions. StreetSpring's scoring incorporates 100 inputs, including competitive quality and density, projected consumer spending, Revenue Capture Score, and mobility data.

Check if this location is still available →

What are the best businesses to open in Framingham?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Framingham

Indonesian Restaurant is ranked #1 for top businesses to open in Framingham: ~83% chance on average, best at ~85%, challenging at ~82%.
South American Restaurant — ~81%–~85% survivability range, with an average of ~83% across Framingham.
Opening a Bangladeshi Restaurant in Framingham shows ~83% average survivability. Top locations reach ~85%; lower-end sites show ~82%.
Chinese Restaurant (Ranked #4): ~83% average in Framingham. Best-case storefronts: ~84%. Challenging locations: ~82%.
Chicken Shop is ranked #5 for top businesses to open in Framingham: ~83% chance on average, best at ~85%, challenging at ~82%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Framingham

Brunch Restaurant — ~81%–~85% survivability range, with an average of ~83% across Framingham.
Opening an Ukrainian Restaurant in Framingham shows ~83% average survivability. Top locations reach ~85%; lower-end sites show ~81%.
Deli (Ranked #8): ~83% average in Framingham. Best-case storefronts: ~84%. Challenging locations: ~81%.
French Restaurant is ranked #9 for top businesses to open in Framingham: ~83% chance on average, best at ~85%, challenging at ~81%.
Italian Restaurant — ~82%–~84% survivability range, with an average of ~83% across Framingham.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

Bangladeshi Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

The revenue potential of a Framingham location

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, picking the highest-scoring storefront in the neighborhood in Framingham 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

However, each business concept should be evaluated for fit within each potential location.
Location shapes survivability more than branding, pricing, or operational quality — the data is unambiguous on this point.
Maximizing your Survivability Score is the most reliable path to profitability.
StreetSpring's address-level precision means the difference between choosing a site with a 65% survival rate and one with a 90% rate — even within the same neighborhood.

What businesses should open next in Framingham?

The top businesses to open next in Framingham:

Indonesian Restaurants — ~83% average survival rate, up to ~85% at best locations
South American Restaurants — ~83% average survival rate
Bangladeshi Restaurants — ~83% average survival rate

These figures represent averages across a neighborhood; your specific address may score meaningfully higher or lower depending on block-level competitive conditions. We have been studying the businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans. The 95.7% employment rate in Framingham is a key signal of consumer health; when combined with the 2.6% vacancy rate, it produces a competitive landscape that favors the business types ranked above. These rankings are a snapshot; StreetSpring recalculates survivability for every location in Framingham weekly, incorporating the latest competitive openings, closures, and spending data — check current locations 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 Framingham.

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

If you own commercial space in Framingham, StreetSpring's 2026 data points to Indonesian Restaurants, South American Restaurants, and Bangladeshi Restaurants as the tenant types with the strongest projected longevity at this location.

Location shapes survivability more than branding, pricing, or operational quality — the data is unambiguous on this point.
StreetSpring's address-level precision means the difference between choosing a site with a 65% survival rate and one with a 90% rate — even within the same neighborhood. StreetSpring can show you which specific address in your portfolio scores highest for each tenant type.

Should you rent your Framingham 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 ~85% chance of lasting more than 2 years; however depending on your location, the chances could drop to a ~82% chance.

StreetSpring's address-level precision means the difference between choosing a site with a 65% survival rate and one with a 90% rate — even within the same neighborhood.

What should I consider when opening a business in Framingham?

In Framingham, the single most important factor in your site-selection decision is the Survivability Score of the specific address you're evaluating.

The Revenue Capture Score at a specific address explains more about likely business success than any other available metric.
No third-party scoring system produces these results — every prediction is generated by StreetSpring's own analytical models.
You can check the Survivability Score for any storefront in Framingham at no cost using StreetSpring's live tool.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

StreetSpring combines proprietary data with advanced analytics to predict which businesses will succeed. Aggregated survivability rankings for Boston are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

Lease structure questions to ask first

Factor	Where new owners get tripped up	Questions to ask before you sign
Insurance + compliance	General liability quoted at a starter rate, then jumping 2-3x once you add property + workers' comp + business interruption.	Get binding quotes from 2 insurers before signing the lease. Most landlords require minimum coverage levels — read those terms first.
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.
Permitted hours	Late-night or early-morning ops blocked by zoning, neighborhood association, or shared-wall restrictions.	Confirm the permitted hours-of-operation are in your lease AND in the local code. Pull recent variances or complaints from the zoning portal.

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

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

Bubble chart of business subtypes in Boston by survivability score and location density — Every business subtype in Boston plotted by score vs location count — bubble size shows market depth.

How we measure this: Annual rent / estimated annual revenue = rent burden ratio. Industry rule of thumb: above 12% is uncomfortable, above 18% is fatal.

**Authoritative baseline:** BLS Business Employment Dynamics, March 2025 release publishes 5-year survival rates by industry. For sectors StreetSpring covers, the range runs from **47.8%** (Active Life) to **61.8%** (Health & Medical), with restaurants at **50.0%** and retail at **47.9%**. Location-specific factors drive the actual variance around these baselines.

**About Framingham** — Framingham is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framingham%2C_Massachusetts))

**Worker-to-resident ratio (Framingham):** LEHD daytime population data gives Framingham a **0.1-to-1 worker/resident ratio** (a primarily-residential neighborhood with minimal daytime worker traffic). Median 1-mile workplace jobs: **3,012**; retail share within that: **250**. Worker-heavy neighborhoods skew demand toward weekday-business-hours; resident-heavy neighborhoods skew toward evenings and weekends.

Landmark anchor: Framingham History Center is Framingham's history-museum landmark and a meaningful pull factor for visitor foot-traffic.

**Economic context that bounds the demand environment in Framingham:** Per ACS, neighborhood unemployment is **4.3%** (below the 24-metro neighborhood median). BLS QCEW shows the Boston metro's average weekly wage at **$1,631** (above our 24-metro median). And Suffolk County permitted **2,338** new residential units in 2025 per Census BPS — a population-and-demand growth signal.

Related Resources

Related:

Local Data Questions

Further questions, with answers anchored on this neighborhood's actual data.

Is Framingham's population younger or older than the Boston average?

Framingham's median age is 42 versus a Boston metro median of 41 — older by 1 year. This shapes which business types tend to survive: The demographic profile is close to the metro average, so business-type fit is driven by other factors like income and competition.

Is Framingham more a residential or work-destination neighborhood?

Median commute time in Framingham is about 33 minutes, versus 32 minutes across the Boston metro. Commute patterns are typical for the metro, so foot traffic timing should not be a primary differentiator.

What's the typical household size in Framingham, and what does it tell us?

Average household size in Framingham is 2.4, versus 2.3 across the Boston metro. Household composition is close to the metro average.

How does Framingham's employment rate affect business survivability?

Roughly 96% of Framingham's working-age population is employed, against a Boston metro median of 96%. Employment is close to the metro median, suggesting stable underlying demand.