What businesses are most in demand in Watertown?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Watertown are Bangladeshi Restaurants, Pet Boarding Facilities, and French Restaurants.

How much money could a business in Watertown make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Watertown could lead to making ~3% 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 Watertown?

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 Watertown maximize success.

Business Survivability in Watertown, Boston

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

April 24, 2026•17 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: a Bangladeshi Restaurant in Watertown (~80% average survival rate, ~83% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #79 across all neighborhoods in and around Boston

Neighborhood average: ~74% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Last reviewed by Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring — May 14, 2026

In this article:

Summary
Is Watertown 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 Watertown is a Bangladeshi Restaurant with a ~80% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~83% chance; next is a Pet Boarding Facility with a ~80% chance, followed by a French Restaurant with a ~80% chance.

Is Watertown a good place to start a business?

**Peer neighborhoods:** Looking at demographic mix and amenity density across the 24 metros StreetSpring covers, Watertown clusters most tightly with **Victory Heights (Seattle)** and **Torrance (Los Angeles)**. Common thread: low poverty, high high-earner share, and higher-income. Survival outcomes for those neighborhoods provide a useful comparison set for Watertown.

**Where Watertown businesses actually fail.** Among the 93 tracked subtypes, **Pet Boarding Facilities** post the highest average survivability (80%). But across Watertown's sites, the spread for this subtype runs **70% to 87%** — a 17-point gap that says *the address matters more than the subtype*. For saturation context, Italian Restaurants are the most densely-clustered tracked subtype in the neighborhood (12 competitors within 0.5 miles).

Across all neighborhoods in and around Boston, StreetSpring's data places Watertown at #79 with a ~74% average Survivability Score.

Best-case locations for the top business types in Watertown produce survivability scores ~3% above the neighborhood-wide average.
Yet even the strongest business types in Watertown see survivability scores drop significantly at the worst addresses. No business type is immune to the consequences of poor location selection within this neighborhood.
Watertown's employment rate of 95.1% and commercial vacancy of 4.5% 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.

Where in Watertown should you open a business?

StreetSpring's model evaluates every available address in Watertown for your business type, ranking them by survivability so the best storefront is always identifiable. The map below highlights the highest-survivability address for a Bangladeshi Restaurant in Watertown:

Anchor tenants that lift survival odds

Loading live map preview...

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis of 100 location-specific factors, this area offers the highest projected survivability for a Bangladeshi Restaurant in Watertown. 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 Watertown?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Watertown

Bangladeshi Restaurant (Ranked #1): ~80% average in Watertown. Best-case storefronts: ~83%. Challenging locations: ~79%.
Pet Boarding Facility is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in Watertown: ~80% chance on average, best at ~82%, challenging at ~78%.
French Restaurant — ~79%–~82% survivability range, with an average of ~80% across Watertown.
Opening a Pet Grooming Shop in Watertown shows ~80% average survivability. Top locations reach ~82%; lower-end sites show ~78%.
Diner (Ranked #5): ~80% average in Watertown. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~78%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Watertown

Kosher Restaurant is ranked #6 for top businesses to open in Watertown: ~80% chance on average, best at ~82%, challenging at ~78%.
Ethiopian Restaurant — ~78%–~81% survivability range, with an average of ~80% across Watertown.
Opening a Scandinavian Restaurant in Watertown shows ~80% average survivability. Top locations reach ~81%; lower-end sites show ~78%.
Indonesian Restaurant (Ranked #9): ~80% average in Watertown. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~78%.
Hungarian Restaurant is ranked #10 for top businesses to open in Watertown: ~80% chance on average, best at ~81%, challenging at ~78%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

Bangladeshi Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

How location selection in Watertown affects revenue

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, picking the highest-scoring storefront in the neighborhood in Watertown could lead to you making ~3% 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

Every business type has unique location requirements that must be considered.
Location is the biggest factor in a business's future success.
Maximizing your Survivability Score is the most reliable path to profitability.
StreetSpring generates location-specific predictions tailored to your exact site.

What Watertown needs more of (per our model)

The top businesses to open next in Watertown:

Bangladeshi Restaurants — ~80% average survival rate, up to ~83% at best locations
Pet Boarding Facilities — ~80% average survival rate
French Restaurants — ~80% 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. Watertown's combination of 95.1% employment and 4.5% vacancy creates the conditions that define which business types thrive here and which struggle. Survivability scores are live, not static — StreetSpring updates them weekly. Visit the tool to see what's currently available in Watertown and how each address is scoring 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 Watertown.

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

If you own commercial space in Watertown, StreetSpring's 2026 data points to Bangladeshi Restaurants, Pet Boarding Facilities, and French Restaurants as the tenant types with the strongest projected longevity at this location.

Location is the biggest factor in a business's future success.
StreetSpring generates location-specific predictions tailored to your exact site. With StreetSpring, you can rank every potential tenant type by survivability score at your property address before committing to a lease.

Should you rent your Watertown storefront to a Bangladeshi Restaurant?

The data shows a Bangladeshi Restaurant is the safest long-term bet for a Watertown storefront. Top locations reach ~83% survivability; the least favorable addresses in this neighborhood score around ~79%.

StreetSpring generates location-specific predictions tailored to your exact site.

What should I consider when opening a business in Watertown?

The Survivability Score for your specific address in Watertown is the most reliable signal you have before signing a lease — prioritize it above foot traffic estimates and demographic summaries.

Revenue Capture Score is what separates locations that look similar on the surface but produce dramatically different business outcomes.
StreetSpring's custom-built forecasting infrastructure powers every survivability score, combining data science with commercial real estate intelligence.
StreetSpring offers free access to its survivability scores — see how your shortlisted Watertown addresses rank right now.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

Our analysis covers businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans across 24 major US metros. Aggregated survivability rankings for Boston are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

The hidden costs of operating in this neighborhood

Consideration	Common pitfall	What to verify before signing
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.
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 Watertown, Boston — Top business types scored in Watertown, 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: Supplier proximity matters more for some subtypes (restaurants, repair shops) than others (online-anchored retail).

**About this neighborhood.** Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watertown%2C_Massachusetts).

**Economic indicators for Watertown:** Three local signals — neighborhood unemployment **4.9%** (ACS; in line with 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.

**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.

Related Resources

Related:

Neighborhood-Specific Questions

Beyond the general FAQ — data-anchored answers for this specific location.

Does Watertown's poverty rate signal lower retail spending?

ACS data shows 7% of Watertown residents below the federal poverty line, versus 8% metro-wide. The poverty rate tracks the metro median; business-type fit depends more on competition and demographic specifics.

How educated is the population in Watertown?

ACS data shows 68% of adults in Watertown with a bachelor's degree or higher, versus the metro median of 58%. Education attainment is close to the metro median, so business-type signals come more from income and density.

What's the national survival baseline for businesses by sector?

Per BLS Business Employment Dynamics (March 2025), 5-year survival rates by sector range from 47.8% (Active Life — gyms, studios) to 61.8% (Health & Medical), with Restaurants at 50% and Retail at 47.9%. Boston-specific factors layer on top of these national baselines.

How does Watertown's employment rate affect business survivability?

Watertown's employment rate is approximately 95%, compared to a Boston metro median of 96%. Employment is close to the metro median, suggesting stable underlying demand.