Is Kenmore a good place to start a business?

Kenmore is ranked number 21 across neighborhoods in and around Boston to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~77%. The most promising business types in the best locations score a ~2% higher chance of surviving 2 years than the average.

What businesses are most in demand in Kenmore?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Kenmore are Dance Clubs, Bars, and Pet Grooming Shops.

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

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 Kenmore maximize success.

What are the best businesses to open in Kenmore?

The top businesses to open in Kenmore include Dance Club with a ~83% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~85%, followed by Bar and Pet Grooming Shop.

How much money could a business in Kenmore make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Kenmore could lead to making ~2% more than selecting an average location, and ~5% more than one of the worst locations.

Business Survivability in Kenmore, Boston

Q: What is the median household income in Kenmore?

Kenmore's median household income (~$108K) is below the Boston metro median (~$135K) by approximately $28K. Lower median income tends to favor value-oriented retail, fast-casual food, and necessity-driven services.

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Kenmore is a Dance Club 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: a Dance Club in Kenmore (~83% average survival rate, ~85% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #21 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 13, 2026 by Bobby Koons, StreetSpring founder — updated weekly

In this article:

Summary
Is Kenmore 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 Kenmore is a Dance Club 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 Bar with a ~83% chance, followed by a Pet Grooming Shop with a ~82% chance.

Is Kenmore the right neighborhood for a new business?

**Peer neighborhoods:** Looking at demographic mix and amenity density across the 24 metros StreetSpring covers, Kenmore clusters most tightly with **Downtown (Portland)** and **Sursum Corda Cooperative (Washington DC)**. Common thread: high destination retail density, more renters, and many high-wage jobs nearby. Survival outcomes for those neighborhoods provide a useful comparison set for Kenmore.

**Where Kenmore businesses actually fail.** Among the 93 tracked subtypes, **Dance Clubs** post the highest average survivability (83%). But across Kenmore's sites, the spread for this subtype runs **77% to 89%** — a 12-point gap that says *the address matters more than the subtype*. For saturation context, Middle Eastern Restaurants are the most densely-clustered tracked subtype in the neighborhood (33 competitors within 0.5 miles).

StreetSpring's analysis places Kenmore at #21 in Boston for new business survival odds, with a neighborhood-wide average of ~77%.

The most promising business types in the best locations score a ~2% higher chance of surviving 2 years than the average.
However, these same business types at the worst locations in Kenmore can sometimes provide a projected Survivability Score considerably below the average. Thus, even the businesses that are most in need in Kenmore could have trouble succeeding if the best location is not selected.
Kenmore's 15.6% commercial vacancy rate signals the current availability of storefronts and shapes the competitive environment that survivability scores reflect.

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

How to choose a specific location in Kenmore

StreetSpring's address-level analysis reveals which specific storefronts in Kenmore offer the strongest survivability odds for your business type. The map below shows the highest-scoring storefront area for a Dance Club in Kenmore per 2026 data:

Why the right block matters more than the right neighborhood

Loading live map preview...

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis of 100 location-specific factors, this area offers the highest projected survivability for a Dance Club in Kenmore. Day-to-day movement in the local market is normal, so StreetSpring's live data is the best source for an up-to-the-day score. Factors evaluated include competition at every distance band, consumer spending forecasts, mobility patterns, and market share projections.

Check if this location is still available →

The strongest business categories for Kenmore

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Kenmore

Opening a Dance Club in Kenmore shows ~83% average survivability. Top locations reach ~85%; lower-end sites show ~81%.
Bar (Ranked #2): ~83% average in Kenmore. Best-case storefronts: ~85%. Challenging locations: ~80%.
Pet Grooming Shop is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Kenmore: ~82% chance on average, best at ~84%, challenging at ~80%.
Filipino Restaurant — ~80%–~83% survivability range, with an average of ~82% across Kenmore.
Opening a Music Store in Kenmore shows ~82% average survivability. Top locations reach ~85%; lower-end sites show ~79%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Kenmore

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

Top 3 Compared Nationally

Dance Club — See how this compares to other cities →
Bar — See how this compares to other cities →

How location selection in Kenmore affects revenue

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, prioritizing survivability score in your site-selection process in Kenmore could lead to you making ~2% more than if you selected an average location, and ~5% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.

How StreetSpring calculates location value

Location fit is business-type-specific: a spot that's ideal for a coffee shop may underperform for a nail salon at the same address.
A great product in the wrong location will underperform; an average product in the right location can thrive.
Businesses in high-scoring locations consistently outperform those in average or low-scoring sites.
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.

The biggest opportunity gaps in Kenmore

The top businesses to open next in Kenmore:

Dance Clubs — ~83% average survival rate, up to ~85% at best locations
Bars — ~83% average survival rate
Pet Grooming Shops — ~82% average survival rate

Market conditions are changing daily, and it is best to use StreetSpring's most up-to-date data. We have been studying the businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans. StreetSpring's model accounts for Kenmore's 90.9% employment rate when projecting survivability — businesses reliant on discretionary spend benefit disproportionately in well-employed neighborhoods. Survivability scores are recalculated weekly as new competitors open and spending patterns shift — visit StreetSpring to see the current score for any open location in Kenmore 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 Kenmore.

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

For landlords in Kenmore, StreetSpring's 2026 analysis identifies Dance Clubs, Bars, and Pet Grooming Shops as the business types most likely to produce stable, long-term tenancy.

A great product in the wrong location will underperform; an average product in the right location can thrive.
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. Landlords can use StreetSpring to match their exact address to the tenant types most likely to stay open and paying rent for 2+ years.

Should you rent your Kenmore storefront to a Dance Club?

According to our 2026 survivability model, a Dance Club leads all business categories for Kenmore landlords — ~85% at the best addresses and ~81% at the most challenging ones in this neighborhood.

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 Kenmore?

Survivability Score is the North Star metric for any location decision in Kenmore: it aggregates 100+ factors so you don't have to evaluate each one individually.

Revenue Capture Score is what separates locations that look similar on the surface but produce dramatically different business outcomes.
These predictions are generated by StreetSpring's proprietary machine learning system, validated against hundreds of thousands of real business outcomes.
StreetSpring's address-level survivability data is available free of charge — start with your top candidate locations in Kenmore.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

StreetSpring's models are built from millions of real business outcomes, making predictions grounded in what actually happened. Aggregated survivability rankings for Boston are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

Build-out budget rules-of-thumb for this neighborhood

Area to check	What can go wrong	How to de-risk it
Build-out budget	Underestimating mechanical, electrical, and plumbing — the "hidden" 30-50% of build-out cost.	Get 3 quotes from licensed contractors and pad budget by +20% for surprises. Confirm landlord TI allowance in writing.
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

Radar chart of business-subtype survivability in Kenmore, Boston — Top business types scored in Kenmore, 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: Our gradient-boosted survivability model has 100+ input features. The waterfall shows the top 6-8 contributors to a final score.

**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.

**Daytime worker density (Kenmore):** LEHD LODES Workplace Area Characteristics show a **7.6:1 daytime-to-resident ratio** for Kenmore — a strong commercial-corridor / CBD signal. Median workplace jobs within a 1-mile radius of grid points in Kenmore: **135,164**, of which roughly **10,122** are retail-sector. Higher daytime ratios favor weekday-lunch / commuter-traffic businesses; balanced ratios favor residential + weekend demand patterns.

Landmark anchor: Back Bay Fens anchors Kenmore's green-space backbone and shapes the neighborhood's foot-traffic patterns.

**Economic indicators for Kenmore:** Three local signals — neighborhood unemployment **9.1%** (ACS; above the median we track), Boston-area average weekly wage **$1,631** (BLS QCEW; above our metro median), and **2,338** new residential units permitted in Suffolk County in 2025 (Census BPS). Use these to ground demand and labor-cost assumptions for your specific business plan.

Related Resources

Related:

Beyond the Numbers: Local Context

Local-context questions, answered with neighborhood-specific numbers.

What is the median household income in Kenmore?

Kenmore's median household income (~~$108K) is below the Boston metro median (~~$135K) by approximately $28K. Lower median income tends to favor value-oriented retail, fast-casual food, and necessity-driven services.

How does Kenmore's employment rate affect business survivability?

Roughly 91% of Kenmore's working-age population is employed, against a Boston metro median of 96%. Below-average employment can constrain discretionary spending — value-oriented and essential services tend to fare better.

How does Kenmore's commute profile affect retail demand?

ACS data puts the median commute at ~21 minutes in Kenmore, compared to 32 minutes metro-wide. A shorter commute usually means residents work close to home — that boosts mid-day weekday demand for cafes, lunch spots, and convenience services.

What does household composition look like in Kenmore?

Average household size in Kenmore is 1.6, versus 2.3 across the Boston metro. Smaller households suggest more singles or couples — favorable for casual dining, fitness, and convenience retail.

How educated is the population in Kenmore?

83% of Kenmore adults have at least a bachelor's degree — above the Boston metro median of 58%. A highly educated population tends to support specialty retail, premium services, and professional offices.