What businesses are most in demand in North Cambridge?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in North Cambridge are Pet Stores, Pet Grooming Shops, and Pet Boarding Facilities.

How much money could a business in North Cambridge make?

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

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

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 North Cambridge maximize success.

What are the best businesses to open in North Cambridge?

The top businesses to open in North Cambridge include Pet Store with a ~84% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~86%, followed by Pet Grooming Shop and Pet Boarding Facility.

Business Survivability in North Cambridge, Boston

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in North Cambridge is a Pet Store with a ~84% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•17 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: a Pet Store in North Cambridge (~84% average survival rate, ~86% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #37 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: April 27, 2026 by Bobby Koons, StreetSpring founder — updated weekly

In this article:

Summary
Is North Cambridge 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 North Cambridge is a Pet Store 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 ~84% chance, followed by a Pet Boarding Facility with a ~84% chance.

Is North Cambridge a good place to start a business?

**Peer neighborhoods:** Looking at demographic mix and amenity density across the 24 metros StreetSpring covers, North Cambridge clusters most tightly with **East Passyunk (Philadelphia)** and **Park View (Washington DC)**. Common thread: many nearby parks, higher employment, and higher-income. Survival outcomes for those neighborhoods provide a useful comparison set for North Cambridge.

**Where North Cambridge businesses actually fail.** Among the 93 tracked subtypes, **Bars** post the highest average survivability (84%). But across North Cambridge's sites, the spread for this subtype runs **78% to 90%** — 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 (17 competitors within 0.5 miles).

North Cambridge holds the #37 position in and around Boston for new business survivability, averaging ~77% across all analyzed business types.

The highest-scoring business types in North Cambridge — at their optimal addresses — outperform the neighborhood average by ~2%.
Still, those same business types at weaker addresses in North Cambridge can score well below the neighborhood mean. Even the most viable concept here requires the right address to reach its potential.
The 5.9% commercial vacancy rate in North Cambridge is a leading indicator of the neighborhood's business health; StreetSpring factors this directly into each business type's survivability score.

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

Where in North Cambridge should you open a business?

StreetSpring's model evaluates every available address in North Cambridge for your business type, ranking them by survivability so the best storefront is always identifiable. This is the address StreetSpring's 2026 analysis recommends most strongly for a Pet Store in North Cambridge:

Why the right block matters more than the right neighborhood

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StreetSpring's 2026 model identifies this area as the highest-survivability location for a Pet Store in North Cambridge. Static rankings can't capture every recent change in competition or foot traffic; StreetSpring's live platform provides the current score for your exact address. The model evaluates 100 factors — from primary and secondary competition to forecasted spend, mobility flows, and local market share potential.

Check if this location is still available →

The strongest business categories for North Cambridge

#1-5: Highest Survivability in North Cambridge

Pet Store (Ranked #1): ~84% average in North Cambridge. Best-case storefronts: ~86%. Challenging locations: ~82%.
Pet Grooming Shop is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in North Cambridge: ~84% chance on average, best at ~86%, challenging at ~82%.
Pet Boarding Facility — ~82%–~86% survivability range, with an average of ~84% across North Cambridge.
Opening a Mexican Restaurant in North Cambridge shows ~84% average survivability. Top locations reach ~85%; lower-end sites show ~82%.
Music Store (Ranked #5): ~83% average in North Cambridge. Best-case storefronts: ~86%. Challenging locations: ~81%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in North Cambridge

Dance Club is ranked #6 for top businesses to open in North Cambridge: ~83% chance on average, best at ~85%, challenging at ~81%.
Diner — ~81%–~85% survivability range, with an average of ~83% across North Cambridge.
Opening a Deli in North Cambridge shows ~83% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~81%.
Russian Restaurant (Ranked #9): ~83% average in North Cambridge. Best-case storefronts: ~84%. Challenging locations: ~81%.
Taiwanese Restaurant is ranked #10 for top businesses to open in North Cambridge: ~82% chance on average, best at ~84%, challenging at ~81%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

The revenue potential of a North Cambridge location

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, securing a location with maximum Revenue Capture potential in North Cambridge 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

Site selection requires evaluating the specific combination of your business type and the exact address — neighborhood-level data is only the starting point.
The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
Choosing locations with superior Survivability Scores directly correlates with higher revenue potential.
StreetSpring provides address-specific survivability predictions for over 700 business types.

What businesses should open next in North Cambridge?

The top businesses to open next in North Cambridge:

Pet Stores — ~84% average survival rate, up to ~86% at best locations
Pet Grooming Shops — ~84% average survival rate
Pet Boarding Facilities — ~84% average survival rate

Static rankings can't capture every recent change in competition or foot traffic; StreetSpring's live platform provides the current score for your exact address. Our models are built using machine learning trained on millions of commercial real estate data points. The 5.9% commercial vacancy rate in North Cambridge means there is available space for new entrants — but it also signals that survivability depends heavily on choosing the right address within the neighborhood, not just the neighborhood itself. 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 North Cambridge 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 North Cambridge.

What type of business should you rent your North Cambridge storefront to?

Our 2026 survivability data for North Cambridge shows that Pet Stores, Pet Grooming Shops, and Pet Boarding Facilities rank as the top tenant categories for minimizing vacancy risk.

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's free tool lets you check the survivability score for any business type at any address in North Cambridge — a powerful filter when evaluating prospective tenants.

Should you rent your North Cambridge storefront to a Pet Store?

StreetSpring's data confirms a Pet Store as the highest-survivability tenant type for North Cambridge. The best addresses show a ~86% chance of lasting more than 2 years; less optimal addresses score around ~82%.

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

What should I consider when opening a business in North Cambridge?

When evaluating potential locations in North Cambridge, start with the Survivability Score. It accounts for competition, spending, mobility, and market share in a single figure.

Revenue Capture Score is the single best indicator of whether a business will thrive at a location.
No third-party scoring system produces these results — every prediction is generated by StreetSpring's own analytical models.
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 analyzed thousands of business openings to identify success patterns. 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
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.
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.
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.

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 North Cambridge, Boston — Top business types scored in North Cambridge, 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: Foot traffic measured at the city-block level using a combination of pedestrian-network analysis and Walk 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.

**Worker-to-resident ratio (North Cambridge):** LEHD daytime population data gives North Cambridge a **1.3-to-1 worker/resident ratio** (a balanced mixed-use pattern). Median 1-mile workplace jobs: **17,740**; retail share within that: **1,926**. Worker-heavy neighborhoods skew demand toward weekday-business-hours; resident-heavy neighborhoods skew toward evenings and weekends.

Landmark anchor: North Cambridge's museum-anchor is Smithsonian Astrophysical Obs, the kind of landmark that pulls visitors into the surrounding commercial blocks.

**Three local anchors for North Cambridge:** **3.0%** neighborhood unemployment (below the 24-metro median, ACS), **$1,631/week** average wage in the Boston area (above our metro median, BLS QCEW), and **2,338** new residential units permitted in Suffolk County in 2025 (Census BPS). These three together describe the demand-and-labor environment any new North Cambridge business operates within.

Related Resources

Related:

Local Data Questions

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

How educated is the population in North Cambridge?

ACS data shows 73% of adults in North Cambridge with a bachelor's degree or higher, versus the metro median of 58%. A highly educated population tends to support specialty retail, premium services, and professional offices.

Does ownership stability in North Cambridge support steady local spending?

Home ownership in North Cambridge is approximately 37%, versus the Boston metro median of 56%. A higher renter share often means more population turnover; quick-service food, fitness, and convenience tend to do well in such environments.

Does North Cambridge's income profile support new business openings?

Median household income in North Cambridge is approximately $131K, versus the Boston metro median of $135K — below the metro by $4K. Income is close to the metro median, so business-type fit depends more on local demographics and competition.