What businesses are most in demand in Roxbury?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Roxbury are Pet Grooming Shops, Veterinary Clinics, and French Restaurants.

Is Roxbury a good place to start a business?

Roxbury is ranked number 68 across neighborhoods in and around Boston to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~75%. StreetSpring data shows the best-fit business types at prime Roxbury addresses outperform the neighborhood average by as much as ~2%.

How much money could a business in Roxbury make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Roxbury 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 Roxbury?

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 Roxbury maximize success.

Business Survivability in Roxbury, Boston

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Roxbury is a Pet Grooming Shop with a ~82% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•18 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: a Pet Grooming Shop in Roxbury (~82% average survival rate, ~84% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #68 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

Reviewed and updated: April 27, 2026 — Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring

In this article:

Summary
Is Roxbury 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 Roxbury is a Pet Grooming Shop with a ~82% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~84% chance; next is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~81% chance, followed by a French Restaurant with a ~81% chance.

Should you open a business in Roxbury?

**Where else does Roxbury look like?** The strongest demographic and amenity-density matches are **Fairlawn (Washington DC)** and **Harvard Heights (Los Angeles)**, sharing more renters, more transit-reliant, and longer commutes. If you've worked in either of those neighborhoods, expect Roxbury to behave similarly on the dimensions that drive survival.

**What goes wrong in Roxbury.** Across 93 subtypes we track, **Pet Grooming Shop averages 82%** — the highest in the neighborhood. Yet a site-level look shows Pet Grooming Shops range from **72% to 92%** across Roxbury — a 20-point window where the address, not the concept, decides the outcome. For competitive density: Juice & Smoothie Bars are the most-concentrated tracked subtype (26 within 0.5 miles).

In Boston's neighborhood survivability rankings, Roxbury comes in at #68, with an average Survivability Score of ~75% across all business types.

StreetSpring data shows the best-fit business types at prime Roxbury addresses outperform the neighborhood average by as much as ~2%.
Still, those same business types at weaker addresses in Roxbury can score well below the neighborhood mean. Even the most viable concept here requires the right address to reach its potential.
StreetSpring's model incorporates Roxbury's 6.1% 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 to choose a specific location in Roxbury

Rather than relying on neighborhood averages, StreetSpring's scoring tells you which specific addresses in Roxbury give your concept the best odds of survival. The map below highlights the highest-survivability address for a Pet Grooming Shop in Roxbury:

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 Pet Grooming Shop in Roxbury. 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. Factors evaluated include competition at every distance band, consumer spending forecasts, mobility patterns, and market share projections.

Check if this location is still available →

What are the best businesses to open in Roxbury?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Roxbury

Pet Grooming Shop is ranked #1 for top businesses to open in Roxbury: ~82% chance on average, best at ~84%, challenging at ~79%.
Veterinary Clinic — ~78%–~83% survivability range, with an average of ~81% across Roxbury.
Opening a French Restaurant in Roxbury shows ~81% average survivability. Top locations reach ~82%; lower-end sites show ~79%.
Scandinavian Restaurant (Ranked #4): ~81% average in Roxbury. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~79%.
Brunch Restaurant is ranked #5 for top businesses to open in Roxbury: ~81% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~79%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Roxbury

Pet Boarding Facility — ~79%–~83% survivability range, with an average of ~81% across Roxbury.
Opening a Kosher Restaurant in Roxbury shows ~80% average survivability. Top locations reach ~82%; lower-end sites show ~78%.
Japanese / Sushi Restaurant (Ranked #8): ~80% average in Roxbury. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~78%.
Dance Club is ranked #9 for top businesses to open in Roxbury: ~80% chance on average, best at ~82%, challenging at ~78%.
Ukrainian Restaurant — ~78%–~82% survivability range, with an average of ~80% across Roxbury.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

The revenue potential of a Roxbury location

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, identifying the optimal address for your business type in Roxbury 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

No two business types have identical location needs; survivability scores reflect these differences at the address level.
Location shapes survivability more than branding, pricing, or operational quality — the data is unambiguous on this point.
Every percentage point of Survivability Score represents a real difference in expected revenue — choosing the highest-scoring address is the most reliable financial decision you can make at the outset.
Every survivability score StreetSpring produces is specific to the exact address and business type — not averaged across a zip code or neighborhood.

What Roxbury needs more of (per our model)

The top businesses to open next in Roxbury:

Pet Grooming Shops — ~82% average survival rate, up to ~84% at best locations
Veterinary Clinics — ~81% average survival rate
French Restaurants — ~81% 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. StreetSpring's accuracy is built on studying businesses that serve more than 180 million+ Americans across 24 cities. The survivability rankings for Roxbury are grounded in real economic conditions: 90.8% employment and 6.1% vacancy are among the key inputs that separate high-scoring locations from low-scoring ones here. StreetSpring refreshes survivability scores every week to reflect new competition and updated spending data — see which locations in Roxbury are available right now and how they rank.

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 Roxbury.

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

StreetSpring's analysis shows that the business concepts that score highest for survivability at most addresses in Roxbury are Pet Grooming Shops, Veterinary Clinics, and French Restaurants.

Location shapes survivability more than branding, pricing, or operational quality — the data is unambiguous on this point.
Every survivability score StreetSpring produces is specific to the exact address and business type — not averaged across a zip code or neighborhood. StreetSpring's free tool lets you check the survivability score for any business type at any address in Roxbury — a powerful filter when evaluating prospective tenants.

Should you rent your Roxbury storefront to a Pet Grooming Shop?

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis strongly supports renting to a Pet Grooming Shop in Roxbury: best-in-class addresses achieve ~84% survivability, and even the lower-end sites come in at ~79% — above average for most business types.

Every survivability score StreetSpring produces is specific to the exact address and business type — not averaged across a zip code or neighborhood.

What should I consider when opening a business in Roxbury?

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

The Revenue Capture Score at a specific address explains more about likely business success than any other available metric.
StreetSpring's forecasting tools are purpose-built for commercial location decisions and are not available through any publicly accessible data source.
Access StreetSpring's current survivability data for any address in Roxbury for free at any time.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

Using predictive analytics, StreetSpring helps entrepreneurs and landlords make smarter location decisions. Aggregated survivability rankings for Boston are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

Lease structure questions to ask first

Area to check	What can go wrong	How to de-risk it
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.
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.
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.

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 Roxbury, Boston — Top business types scored in Roxbury, Boston — each axis is a subtype, taller = stronger survival rate.

How we measure this: Most retail competition operates within a 500-meter radius — outside that, behavioral economics show customers don't routinely switch.

**Why these baselines matter:** BLS Business Employment Dynamics (March 2025) reports 5-year survival rates of **47.8-61.8%** across the industries StreetSpring covers. Restaurants survive at **50.0%** nationally — not 20%. The location decision is what separates the 30% above the baseline from the 30% below.

**Neighborhood context.** Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxbury%2C_Boston).

**Daytime vs. resident population (Roxbury):** US Census LEHD workplace data shows Roxbury carries a **0.2× daytime/resident ratio** (a primarily-residential neighborhood with minimal daytime worker traffic), with median 1-mile workplace jobs of **12,048** (and **1,204** retail-sector jobs within that radius). A useful read on demand timing for any new storefront concept here.

Landmark anchor: Roxbury hosts Shirley-Eustis House, a history-museum that gives the neighborhood a cultural-destination layer most blocks don't have.

**Local economic context (Roxbury, Boston):** Roxbury's ACS unemployment rate is **9.2%** (above the 24-metro neighborhood median). County-level data adds two more anchors: BLS QCEW reports Boston-area average weekly wage of **$1,631** (above our 24-metro median), and the Census Bureau Building Permits Survey logged **2,338** new residential units in Suffolk County in 2025 — a rough proxy for the local growth environment a new business is opening into.

Related Resources

Related:

Local Context FAQ

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

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

Roxbury's average household has 2.5 people — above the Boston metro average (2.3). Household composition is close to the metro average.

What is the median age in Roxbury, and what does that mean for businesses?

The median age in Roxbury is 35, younger by the Boston metro median (41) by 6 years. A younger profile tends to drive demand for nightlife, fitness, and casual dining over family-oriented services.

What's the local customer base size in Roxbury?

Approximately 61.7K people live in Roxbury, which puts it in the top quintile by population among Boston neighborhoods. A larger resident base supports a broader range of business types and can absorb more direct competitors.

Are storefronts and homes filling up or sitting empty in Roxbury?

ACS data shows a housing vacancy rate of approximately 6% in Roxbury, versus the Boston metro median of 5%. Vacancy is close to the metro median — lease economics are typical for the area.

What's the typical commute pattern in Roxbury?

ACS data puts the median commute at ~37 minutes in Roxbury, compared to 32 minutes metro-wide. Commute patterns are typical for the metro, so foot traffic timing should not be a primary differentiator.