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

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 Oaklawn maximize success.

Is Oaklawn a good place to start a business?

Oaklawn is ranked number 32 across neighborhoods in and around Charlotte to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~72%. Choosing an optimal address for the highest-ranked business types in Oaklawn can produce survivability scores up to ~2% above the neighborhood mean.

What are the best businesses to open in Oaklawn?

The top businesses to open in Oaklawn include Italian Restaurant with a ~83% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~84%, followed by Diner and Filipino Restaurant.

What businesses are most in demand in Oaklawn?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Oaklawn are Italian Restaurants, Diners, and Filipino Restaurants.

How much money could a business in Oaklawn make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Oaklawn could lead to making ~2% more than selecting an average location, and ~3% more than one of the worst locations.

Business Survivability in Oaklawn, Charlotte

Q: How does income in Oaklawn compare to the rest of Charlotte?

Oaklawn's median household income (~$49K) is below the Charlotte metro median (~$97K) by approximately $47K. Lower median income tends to favor value-oriented retail, fast-casual food, and necessity-driven services.

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Oaklawn is an Italian Restaurant with a ~83% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•16 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: an Italian Restaurant in Oaklawn (~83% average survival rate, ~84% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #32 across all neighborhoods in and around Charlotte

Neighborhood average: ~72% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Reviewed and updated: April 26, 2026 — Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring

In this article:

Summary
Is Oaklawn 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 Oaklawn is an Italian Restaurant with a ~83% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~84% chance; next is a Diner with a ~82% chance, followed by a Filipino Restaurant with a ~81% chance.

Should you open a business in Oaklawn?

**Peer neighborhoods:** Looking at demographic mix and amenity density across the 24 metros StreetSpring covers, Oaklawn clusters most tightly with **Wilshire (San Antonio)** and **Sycamore Hills (St. Louis)**. Common thread: low high-earner share, less college-educated, and shorter commutes. Survival outcomes for those neighborhoods provide a useful comparison set for Oaklawn.

**Where Oaklawn businesses actually fail.** Among the 89 tracked subtypes, **Diners** post the highest average survivability (82%). But across Oaklawn's sites, the spread for this subtype runs **80% to 82%** — a 2-point gap that says *the address matters more than the subtype*. For saturation context, Chiropractor Offices are the most densely-clustered tracked subtype in the neighborhood (5 competitors within 0.5 miles).

Out of all neighborhoods analyzed in and around Charlotte, Oaklawn ranks #32 for business survivability with a ~72% average Survivability Score.

Choosing an optimal address for the highest-ranked business types in Oaklawn can produce survivability scores up to ~2% above the neighborhood mean.
That said, the same business types at the worst-fit addresses in Oaklawn can drop substantially below average. The survivability gap between the best and worst addresses in a single neighborhood can be 20 points or more.
Commercial vacancy in Oaklawn sits at 10.9%, a figure that factors into survivability scores for every business type in this neighborhood.

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

Pinpointing the best locations within Oaklawn

StreetSpring's address-level analysis reveals which specific storefronts in Oaklawn offer the strongest survivability odds for your business type. The map below highlights the highest-survivability address for an Italian Restaurant in Oaklawn:

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 an Italian Restaurant in Oaklawn. The most reliable survivability data for any specific location is always StreetSpring's most recent live analysis, not aggregate neighborhood rankings. Factors evaluated include competition at every distance band, consumer spending forecasts, mobility patterns, and market share projections.

Check if this location is still available →

Which business types have the highest survivability in Oaklawn?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Oaklawn

Italian Restaurant — ~81%–~84% survivability range, with an average of ~83% across Oaklawn.
Opening a Diner in Oaklawn shows ~82% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~80%.
Filipino Restaurant (Ranked #3): ~81% average in Oaklawn. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~79%.
Indian Restaurant is ranked #4 for top businesses to open in Oaklawn: ~81% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~79%.
Ukrainian Restaurant — ~78%–~83% survivability range, with an average of ~81% across Oaklawn.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Oaklawn

Opening a Kosher Restaurant in Oaklawn shows ~80% average survivability. Top locations reach ~82%; lower-end sites show ~78%.
Pet Grooming Shop (Ranked #7): ~80% average in Oaklawn. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~78%.
Watch Store or Repair Shop is ranked #8 for top businesses to open in Oaklawn: ~80% chance on average, best at ~82%, challenging at ~77%.
Portuguese Restaurant — ~77%–~81% survivability range, with an average of ~80% across Oaklawn.
Opening a Pet Boarding Facility in Oaklawn shows ~80% average survivability. Top locations reach ~82%; lower-end sites show ~78%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

Diner — See how this compares to other cities →
Filipino Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

What you could earn opening a business in Oaklawn

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, picking the highest-scoring storefront in the neighborhood in Oaklawn could lead to you making ~2% more than if you selected an average location, and ~3% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.

How StreetSpring calculates location value

Location fit is business-type-specific: a spot that's ideal for a coffee shop may underperform for a nail salon at the same address.
Survivability data consistently shows location accounts for more variance in business outcomes than any other controllable factor.
StreetSpring has found that selecting the location with the highest survivability score for a business is the best way to maximize the amount of money you will make.
StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success.

Which business types are most underserved in Oaklawn?

The top businesses to open next in Oaklawn:

Italian Restaurants — ~83% average survival rate, up to ~84% at best locations
Diners — ~82% average survival rate
Filipino Restaurants — ~81% average survival rate

The most reliable survivability data for any specific location is always StreetSpring's most recent live analysis, not aggregate neighborhood rankings. The model draws from 100+ location-specific factors to generate each survivability score. A 10.9% vacancy rate in Oaklawn reflects the current commercial environment; StreetSpring weights this directly in every survivability score for addresses in this neighborhood. The data behind these rankings is updated weekly, so the best available storefront in Oaklawn today may score differently than it did last month — check StreetSpring's live tool for the current picture.

See the Survivability Score for your new business

Related Articles:

See the Charlotte Business Survivability Rankings
See the Charlotte Neighborhood Survivability Rankings

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Oaklawn.

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

Our 2026 survivability data for Oaklawn shows that Italian Restaurants, Diners, and Filipino Restaurants rank as the top tenant categories for minimizing vacancy risk.

Survivability data consistently shows location accounts for more variance in business outcomes than any other controllable factor.
StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success. Run your specific address through StreetSpring to see which tenant categories give you the best odds of stable, long-term occupancy.

Should you rent your Oaklawn storefront to an Italian Restaurant?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, an Italian Restaurant ranks as the top tenant type for your Oaklawn storefront — best-case locations show a ~84% survival rate, while the most challenging addresses drop to ~81%.

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 Oaklawn?

Survivability Score is the North Star metric for any location decision in Oaklawn: it aggregates 100+ factors so you don't have to evaluate each one individually.

High Revenue Capture Score is the clearest signal that a location can sustain a business over the long term.
Each forecast is specific to the exact address and business type, generated by StreetSpring's internally developed prediction engine.
StreetSpring offers free access to its survivability scores — see how your shortlisted Oaklawn addresses rank right now.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

StreetSpring analyzes millions of data points with AI to forecast business survivability. Aggregated survivability rankings for Charlotte are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

Permits, licensing, and zoning specifics worth flagging

Area to check	What can go wrong	How to de-risk it
Workforce availability	Hiring radius is smaller than you think — many neighborhoods can't staff a full team at standard wages.	Pull BLS wage data for your industry in this metro. Walk through your staffing plan with a local restaurant/retail operator before signing.
Outdoor seating / sidewalk use	Signing assuming you can add patio seating, then learning the city requires a separate sidewalk-cafe permit with long lead times.	Check the city's sidewalk-cafe permit process up front. Confirm landlord allows outdoor build-out in the lease language.
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 Charlotte: /resources/data/charlotte-survivability-scores-2026.csv — includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Visual Data

Bubble chart of business subtypes in Charlotte by survivability score and location density — Every business subtype in Charlotte plotted by score vs location count — bubble size shows market depth.

Dumbbell chart comparing best vs worst locations for businesses in Charlotte — Best vs worst neighborhood per business type in Charlotte — the gap shows how much location choice matters for each subtype.

How we measure this: Annual rent / estimated annual revenue = rent burden ratio. Industry rule of thumb: above 12% is uncomfortable, above 18% is fatal.

**Daytime population context (Oaklawn):** Per US Census LEHD LODES, the median 1-mile workplace-jobs population within Oaklawn is **2,475** — about **0.9× the resident population**, which qualifies as a balanced mixed-use pattern. Retail-sector jobs in that radius: **119**. This shapes which business models have a natural demand floor here.

Landmark anchor: Oaklawn Park anchors Oaklawn's green-space backbone and shapes the neighborhood's foot-traffic patterns.

**Oaklawn economic snapshot:** ACS reports neighborhood unemployment at **2.2%** (below the 24-metro neighborhood median we track). The Charlotte metro's BLS QCEW average weekly wage is **$1,183** (below our metro median), and the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey logged **7,496** new residential permits in Mecklenburg County in 2025 — useful triangulation for population-growth and labor-cost assumptions in this neighborhood.

**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:

Beyond the Numbers: Local Context

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

Does ownership stability in Oaklawn support steady local spending?

36% of Oaklawn households own their home, against 51% across the Charlotte metro. A higher renter share often means more population turnover; quick-service food, fitness, and convenience tend to do well in such environments.

How does income in Oaklawn compare to the rest of Charlotte?

Oaklawn's median household income (~~$49K) is below the Charlotte metro median (~~$97K) by approximately $47K. Lower median income tends to favor value-oriented retail, fast-casual food, and necessity-driven services.

Does Oaklawn's poverty rate signal lower retail spending?

The poverty rate in Oaklawn is approximately 17%, compared to the Charlotte metro median of 11%. Elevated poverty constrains discretionary retail; survivability is highest for essential services and value-oriented operators.