Business Survivability in The Port - Area 4, Boston

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in The Port - Area 4 is a French Restaurant with a ~80% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

14 min read

Quick Summary

  • Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
  • Best business: a French Restaurant in The Port - Area 4 (~80% average survival rate, ~80% at best locations)
  • Neighborhood rank: #51 across all neighborhoods in and around Boston
  • Neighborhood average: ~78% two-year survival across all business types
  • Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data
  • Detailed methodology

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

In this article:

Summary

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in The Port - Area 4 is a French Restaurant with a ~80% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~80% chance; next is a Japanese / Sushi Restaurant with a 79.61% chance, followed by a Deli with a 79.47% chance.


Is The Port - Area 4 a good place to start a business?

The Port - Area 4 is the #51 most survivable neighborhood for new businesses in and around Boston, with an average score of ~78% across all analyzed categories.

  • The top business types in The Port - Area 4, when placed at their ideal addresses, achieve survivability rates ~2% above the neighborhood-wide average.
  • That said, the same business types at the worst-fit addresses in The Port - Area 4 can drop substantially below average. The survivability gap between the best and worst addresses in a single neighborhood can be 20 points or more.
  • The Port - Area 4's employment rate of 93.5% and commercial vacancy of 3.7% are two of the inputs StreetSpring's model uses to differentiate survivability within this neighborhood.

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 The Port - Area 4?

StreetSpring's address-level analysis reveals which specific storefronts in The Port - Area 4 offer the strongest survivability odds for your business type. StreetSpring's 2026 model ranks this area #1 in The Port - Area 4 for a French Restaurant:

Loading live map preview...

This map shows the optimal location for a French Restaurant in The Port - Area 4 based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. These figures represent averages across a neighborhood; your specific address may score meaningfully higher or lower depending on block-level competitive conditions. The prediction model incorporates hundreds of location-specific factors, including competitive density, forecasted consumer spending, mobility patterns, and Revenue Capture Score.

Check if this location is still available →


What are the best businesses to open in The Port - Area 4?

#Business typeChance of lasting 2+ years
1French Restaurant79.69%
2Japanese / Sushi Restaurant79.61%
3Deli79.47%
4Russian Restaurant78.91%
5South American Restaurant78.88%
6Vietnamese Restaurant78.86%
7Mexican Restaurant78.83%
8Taiwanese Restaurant78.68%
9Salad Shop78.67%
10Sri Lankan Restaurant78.40%

#1-5: Highest Survivability in The Port - Area 4

  1. Opening a French Restaurant in The Port - Area 4 shows 79.69% average survivability. Top locations reach ~80%; lower-end sites show ~79%.
  2. Japanese / Sushi Restaurant (Ranked #2): 79.61% average in The Port - Area 4. Best-case storefronts: ~80%. Challenging locations: ~79%.
  3. Deli is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in The Port - Area 4: 79.47% chance on average, best at ~80%, challenging at ~79%.
  4. Russian Restaurant — ~78%–~80% survivability range, with an average of 78.91% across The Port - Area 4.
  5. Opening a South American Restaurant in The Port - Area 4 shows 78.88% average survivability. Top locations reach ~80%; lower-end sites show ~78%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in The Port - Area 4

  1. Vietnamese Restaurant (Ranked #6): 78.86% average in The Port - Area 4. Best-case storefronts: ~79%. Challenging locations: ~78%.
  2. Mexican Restaurant is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in The Port - Area 4: 78.83% chance on average, best at ~80%, challenging at ~78%.
  3. Taiwanese Restaurant — ~78%–~79% survivability range, with an average of 78.68% across The Port - Area 4.
  4. Opening a Salad Shop in The Port - Area 4 shows 78.67% average survivability. Top locations reach ~80%; lower-end sites show ~78%.
  5. Sri Lankan Restaurant (Ranked #10): 78.40% average in The Port - Area 4. Best-case storefronts: ~79%. Challenging locations: ~78%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally


How much money could a business in The Port - Area 4 make?

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations for your business in The Port - Area 4 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

  • Site-specific factors can dramatically alter outcomes even within the same neighborhood.
  • Site selection is the highest-leverage decision most entrepreneurs make — it sets every other variable in motion.
  • Maximizing your Survivability Score is the most reliable path to profitability.
  • No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 500+ business types the way StreetSpring does.

What businesses should open next in The Port - Area 4?

The top businesses to open next in The Port - Area 4:

  • French Restaurants — 79.69% average survival rate, up to ~80% at best locations
  • Japanese / Sushi Restaurants — 79.61% average survival rate
  • Delis — 79.47% 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. StreetSpring's training dataset includes millions of transactions and business lifecycle events. A 3.7% vacancy rate in The Port - Area 4 reflects the current commercial environment; StreetSpring weights this directly in every survivability score for addresses in this neighborhood. New competitors open and close every week, changing the survivability landscape for every address in The Port - Area 4. StreetSpring's weekly updates mean you can always see the current score for any available storefront.

See the Survivability Score for your new business

Related Articles:


Visual Data

radar chart of Boston business survivability.
StreetSpring survivability data — radar view of Boston.
Treemap of Boston business subtypes ranked by survivability score and elite-neighborhood count.
Top business subtypes in Boston by survivability — cell size = number of high-scoring neighborhoods, color = average survivability. Pet Grooming Shop leads with 73 elite neighborhoods at 82 avg.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the most common questions about opening a business in The Port - Area 4.


What type of business should you rent your The Port - Area 4 storefront to?

Based on 2026 survivability scores across all business types in The Port - Area 4, the top three tenant categories for landlords are French Restaurants, Japanese / Sushi Restaurants, and Delis.

  • Site selection is the highest-leverage decision most entrepreneurs make — it sets every other variable in motion.
  • No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 500+ business types the way StreetSpring does. StreetSpring's free tool lets you check the survivability score for any business type at any address in The Port - Area 4 — a powerful filter when evaluating prospective tenants.

Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Boston Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity


Should you rent your The Port - Area 4 storefront to a French Restaurant?

According to our 2026 survivability model, a French Restaurant leads all business categories for The Port - Area 4 landlords — ~80% at the best addresses and ~79% at the most challenging ones in this neighborhood.

  • No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 500+ business types the way StreetSpring does.

What should I consider when opening a business in The Port - Area 4?

When selecting a location in The Port - Area 4 it is crucial to select a location with a very high Survivability Score.

  • Among all the inputs that shape survivability, Revenue Capture Score carries the most predictive weight.
  • These predictions are generated by StreetSpring's proprietary machine learning system, validated against hundreds of thousands of real business outcomes.
  • StreetSpring's live scoring tool is free: enter any address in The Port - Area 4 to see its current Survivability Score for your business type.

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.

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.