Is Union Square a good place to start a business?

Union Square is ranked number 41 across neighborhoods in and around Boston to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~76%. The most promising business types in the best locations score a ~2% higher chance of surviving 2 years than the average.

How much money could a business in Union Square make?

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

What businesses are most in demand in Union Square?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Union Square are Delis, Hot Pot Restaurants, and Vietnamese Restaurants.

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

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 Union Square maximize success.

Business Survivability in Union Square, Boston

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Union Square is a Deli 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 Deli in Union Square (~84% average survival rate, ~85% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #41 across all neighborhoods in and around Boston

Neighborhood average: ~76% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Reviewed: May 1, 2026 by Bobby Koons, StreetSpring founder

In this article:

Summary
Is Union Square 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 Union Square is a Deli with a ~84% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~85% chance; next is a Hot Pot Restaurant with a ~82% chance, followed by a Vietnamese Restaurant with a ~82% chance.

How business-friendly is Union Square right now?

**Comparable neighborhoods:** Among the ~2,500 neighborhoods StreetSpring scores, Union Square's profile most resembles **Otterbein (Baltimore)** and **East Poplar (Philadelphia)**. All three exhibit white-collar job mix, many anchor tenants, and more renters — operators with experience in any of those neighborhoods will see familiar patterns in Union Square.

**Failure-mode analysis for Union Square.** The single strongest subtype in our data is **Vietnamese Restaurant** at 82% average survivability. But the within-neighborhood spread for Vietnamese Restaurants runs **79% to 86%** — meaning a poorly-sited Vietnamese Restaurant in Union Square can score 7 points below a well-sited one. Saturation reality check: Kosher Restaurants are the most-competed tracked subtype here, with 26 existing competitors within a 0.5-mile radius.

Out of all neighborhoods analyzed in and around Boston, Union Square ranks #41 for business survivability with a ~76% average Survivability Score.

The most promising business types in the best locations score a ~2% higher chance of surviving 2 years than the average.
However, those same business types at the weakest addresses in Union Square can score considerably below average. Even the most in-demand concept in Union Square will struggle if it opens at the wrong address.
Union Square's 5.7% 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.

Pinpointing the best locations within Union Square

Rather than relying on neighborhood averages, StreetSpring's scoring tells you which specific addresses in Union Square give your concept the best odds of survival. The location below represents the address in Union Square with the highest projected survivability for a Deli:

Walking the neighborhood: what to look for

Loading live map preview...

The highlighted area represents the address in Union Square that StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks highest for a Deli 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 Union Square?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Union Square

Deli is ranked #1 for top businesses to open in Union Square: ~84% chance on average, best at ~85%, challenging at ~82%.
Hot Pot Restaurant — ~80%–~84% survivability range, with an average of ~82% across Union Square.
Opening a Vietnamese Restaurant in Union Square shows ~82% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~80%.
Singaporean Restaurant (Ranked #4): ~82% average in Union Square. Best-case storefronts: ~84%. Challenging locations: ~81%.
Salad Shop is ranked #5 for top businesses to open in Union Square: ~81% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~79%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Union Square

Pet Store — ~79%–~83% survivability range, with an average of ~81% across Union Square.
Opening a Diner in Union Square shows ~81% average survivability. Top locations reach ~83%; lower-end sites show ~79%.
Pet Boarding Facility (Ranked #8): ~81% average in Union Square. Best-case storefronts: ~83%. Challenging locations: ~79%.
Day Care Center is ranked #9 for top businesses to open in Union Square: ~81% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~78%.
Armenian Restaurant — ~79%–~83% survivability range, with an average of ~81% across Union Square.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

Deli — See how this compares to other cities →

How location selection in Union Square affects revenue

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations for your business in Union Square 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.
Location is the biggest factor in a business's future success.
Businesses in high-scoring locations consistently outperform those in average or low-scoring sites.
StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success.

Which business types are most underserved in Union Square?

The top businesses to open next in Union Square:

Delis — ~84% average survival rate, up to ~85% at best locations
Hot Pot Restaurants — ~82% average survival rate
Vietnamese Restaurants — ~82% 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 has analyzed hundreds of thousands of business outcomes across major U.S. metros. Union Square sits at 97.0% employment and 5.7% commercial vacancy — conditions that set the ceiling and floor for Revenue Capture potential across all business types here. 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 Union Square 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 Union Square.

What type of business should you rent your Union Square storefront to?

For landlords in Union Square, StreetSpring's 2026 analysis identifies Delis, Hot Pot Restaurants, and Vietnamese Restaurants as the business types most likely to produce stable, long-term tenancy.

Location is the biggest factor in a business's future success.
StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success. StreetSpring allows property owners to evaluate any address against 700+ tenant types — so you can prioritize the categories that score highest at your specific location.

Should you rent your Union Square storefront to a Deli?

Yes. Among all business types analyzed for Union Square in 2026, a Deli posts the highest survivability ceiling at ~85% and maintains a reasonable floor of ~82% — making it the most reliable tenant choice here.

StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success.

What should I consider when opening a business in Union Square?

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

StreetSpring's analysis consistently shows Revenue Capture Score predicts survival odds more accurately than demographic data or foot traffic estimates alone.
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 Union Square for free at any time.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

Powered by machine learning models trained on real business outcomes, StreetSpring delivers actionable insights. 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
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.
Permits & licensing	Assuming a 30-day permit timeline, hitting 90+ days, paying rent on a non-operating storefront.	Call the local zoning office before signing. Confirm your use is already permitted; if not, factor a 2-3 month variance timeline.
Competitor density	Counting only direct competitors and missing adjacent-category overlap (e.g. coffee shop near a bakery).	Map all businesses serving overlapping customer needs within a 5-min walk. Use StreetSpring's competitor view as a starting point.

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

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 Union Square, Boston — Top business types scored in Union Square, 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: Most retail competition operates within a 500-meter radius — outside that, behavioral economics show customers don't routinely switch.

**Worker-to-resident ratio (Union Square):** LEHD daytime population data gives Union Square a **3.2-to-1 worker/resident ratio** (a worker-heavy mixed-use signal). Median 1-mile workplace jobs: **41,163**; retail share within that: **2,478**. Worker-heavy neighborhoods skew demand toward weekday-business-hours; resident-heavy neighborhoods skew toward evenings and weekends.

Landmark anchor: Somdog is the public-space landmark in Union Square that shapes a meaningful share of neighborhood foot-traffic.

**Economic context that bounds the demand environment in Union Square:** Per ACS, neighborhood unemployment is **3.0%** (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.

**Sector-level context:** BLS data (BLS Business Employment Dynamics, March 2025 release) shows 5-year survival rates of **47.8%** (Active Life), **47.9%** (Retail Trade), **50.0%** (Restaurants), **50.5%** (Beauty & Personal Care), and **61.8%** (Health & Medical) — the five industry buckets covering most StreetSpring subtypes. Location-specific factors explain the rest of the variance.

Related Resources

Related:

Beyond the Numbers: Local Context

Additional questions with answers drawn directly from local data sources.

What does household composition look like in Union Square?

ACS data puts average household size in Union Square at 2.1, compared to 2.3 across Boston. Household composition is close to the metro average.

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

Union Square's median age is 32 versus a Boston metro median of 41 — younger by 9 years. This shapes which business types tend to survive: A younger profile tends to drive demand for nightlife, fitness, and casual dining over family-oriented services.

How many people live in Union Square?

Union Square has approximately 13K residents, putting it in the lower-middle range among Boston neighborhoods we track. The resident base is smaller than typical; survivability is highest for businesses that draw beyond the immediate neighborhood.