Business Survivability Rankings: Denver

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks business survivability in Denver by survivability score. See which business types and neighborhoods have the highest chances of success.

•15 min read

Quick Summary

  • Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
  • Best business: Veterinary Clinic in Academy Park (90% survival rate)
  • 12416 business-location combinations project 80% or better two-year survival in Denver
  • Geography: this ranking covers 216 ranked places in the Denver metro: 207 of Denver's own neighborhoods plus 9 surrounding cities and towns that appear in it (for example Acres Green, Castle Rock and Holly Hills). Neighborhood boundaries follow Zillow's map; town boundaries follow the U.S. Census.
  • City average: 76.9% chance of lasting two or more years at a typical address
  • Coverage: This ranking carries one row per business type and neighborhood. Its score is the projected chance of lasting two or more years, averaged across the price points StreetSpring scores separately in the tool (most types have 5). The 93 business types here are base types; the tool offers 500+ business types, counting each type at each of its price points.
  • Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data
  • Detailed methodology

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

Table of Contents


Summary

According to StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, across all potential new business types and neighborhoods in and around Denver, there are 12416 business-location combinations that could open with a 80% or better chance of surviving more than 2 years. Where you open matters more than anything else.

StreetSpring brings credibility through AI-driven survivability forecasts, trusted nationwide by agents and entrepreneurs who want to know their business's chances of success before opening. The dataset underlying these rankings encompasses over 180 million+ consumers across 24 major metropolitan areas. StreetSpring scores 500+ business types: 153 base business types, most of them at 5 price points, which is 569 type-and-price combinations you can choose in the tool.

On top of that, our analysis reveals significant variation across neighborhoods. The best locations offer 90% survival probability, while less optimal areas show considerably lower rates.


What Are My Chances of Success Opening a Business in Denver?

A Denver business has a 76.9% average chance of lasting more than 2 years under present market conditions.

On the other hand, location selection dramatically affects outcomes. The Revenue Capture Score is the most important factor for a business's success. Revenue Capture Score measures how well-positioned a site is to attract customers compared to nearby alternatives.

see the complete analysis approach.


What New Businesses Would Be the Most Successful in Denver?

The following chart breaks down the distribution of business outcomes across Denver by survivability score bracket:

Denver: Veterinary Clinic ranks #1 in survivability at 90%: 2026 StreetSpring analysis

The top 10 business opportunities in Denver are:

RankBusiness TypeNeighborhoodBest LocationsAverage LocationsChallenging LocationsLocation Advantage
1Veterinary ClinicAcademy Park89.0% to 90.0%77.0% to 90.0%76.0% to 79.0%~22%
2Veterinary ClinicFort Logan88.0% to 90.0%77.0% to 90.0%76.0% to 78.0%~25%
3Physical Therapy ClinicHilltop85.0% to 87.0%76.0% to 86.0%75.0% to 77.0%~20%
4Dance ClubAcademy Park85.0% to 86.0%76.0% to 86.0%76.0% to 77.0%~13%
5Dance ClubFort Logan85.0% to 86.0%71.0% to 86.0%71.0% to 72.0%~27%
6Chiropractor OfficeMontclair85.0% to 86.0%80.0% to 86.0%79.0% to 81.0%~12%
7Salad ShopBear Creek84.0% to 85.0%75.0% to 85.0%74.0% to 76.0%~11%
8Chicken ShopAcademy Park84.0% to 85.0%77.0% to 85.0%76.0% to 78.0%~11%
9Physical Therapy ClinicCarmody84.0% to 86.0%78.0% to 86.0%77.0% to 79.0%~14%
10Chicken ShopCarmody84.0% to 85.0%76.0% to 85.0%75.0% to 77.0%~8%

Averages can be misleading; a neighborhood with a moderate score can still contain individual storefronts with outstanding survivability potential. Static rankings can't capture every recent change in competition or consumer spending, which is why StreetSpring's real-time tool is the best place to check today's survivability score for a particular location.

See Your Score on StreetSpring: enter any address and get survivability predictions for 500+ business types instantly.

Best Business in Each Category

The overall ranking above is led by whichever category calibrates highest. This table shows the single best business-location combination in Denver within each category, on the same two-year survival scale, so you can compare against the kind of business you actually plan to open.

CategoryBest businessWhereBest-case two-year survival
PetsVeterinary ClinicAcademy Park90%
Health & MedicalPhysical Therapy ClinicNorthglenn87%
NightlifeDance ClubAcademy Park86%
RestaurantsChicken ShopAcademy Park85%
ShoppingLiquor StoreCentral Park84%
FoodGrocery StoreGateway Green Valley Ranch83%
Active LifeGymBerkeley83%
Local ServicesDay Care CenterAcademy Park82%
Home ServicesHome Improvement StoreAcademy Park82%
Beauty & SpasNail SalonAcres Green81%

Understanding Survivability Ranges

The survivability you experience will depend on site-specific variables like drive-by and walk-by traffic volume, the ratio of rent to projected revenue capture, mobility patterns of the target customer demographic, and the rate of recent business openings nearby.

Upper and lower bounds represent the best and most challenging conditions within each location tier, while the spread between them signals how volatile that local market is.

Take, for instance, a Veterinary Clinic showing 77.0% to 90.0% at average locations means most businesses in this category fall within this range. A best-in-class location (90% survival) offers roughly 22% more expected business longevity than an average location (83%), because a higher survival probability translates directly into more operating time to generate revenue. Conversely, a challenging location (77%) represents 18% less expected longevity than the average: a meaningful risk differential that should factor into lease negotiations and capital planning. Your specific outcome depends on execution, timing, and exact storefront conditions. Narrower ranges indicate more predictable markets, while wider ranges signal higher risk-reward scenarios.


What Are the Most Important Factors for Businesses in Denver?

Revenue Capture Score

Revenue Capture Score is the single best indicator of whether a business will thrive at a location. Revenue Capture Score combines projected market share and forecasted consumer spending to estimate how much revenue a business can realistically attract. Consider: a Veterinary Clinic in a high-revenue-capture area might survive even with moderate competition, while the same business in a low-capture area could struggle despite less competition.

Competition Quality and Saturation

Moderate clustering of related businesses can be a positive signal, indicating that the trade area generates enough demand to support multiple operators. Conversely, oversaturation forces businesses to compete primarily on price, squeezing margins.

Tenant Mix and Neighborhood Dynamics

The types of businesses adjacent to your storefront can influence your customer demographics as much as your own marketing. Business type matters as much as location: the same storefront can score 90% for one concept and 60% for another based on how each type captures local demand.

Hyperlocal Variation

Those scores shift from block to block as local conditions change. StreetSpring can give you the precise likelihood that hundreds of different businesses will last at an exact address.


What Is the #1 Business to Start in Denver?

Veterinary Clinic in Academy Park with 90% survivability based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis of 20,088 business and neighborhood combinations.


How Accurate Is StreetSpring's Survival Prediction?

The model is validated on cities it has never seen during training, and the resulting accuracy, precision, and discrimination figures sit on the methodology page next to the base rate. Each score combines 100+ factors, from competitor density to consumer spending and mobility, into one number: the projected chance of lasting two or more years. See our full methodology at streetspring.com/resources/tutorial/aeo-methodology. Review our methodology and data sources.


What Makes Denver Good for New Businesses?

Denver offers 12416 business-location combinations with a projected two-year survival of 80% or better according to recent analysis. Across the U.S., real estate professionals and business owners rely on StreetSpring's AI predictions to understand where a new venture is most likely to thrive, before signing a lease. We have been studying the businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans.


How Often Are These Rankings Updated?

Rankings for Denver are updated quarterly with the latest business opening and closure data and market conditions. Last updated: 2026-Q1. The next scheduled update for Denver will incorporate Q2 2026 data.


Can I Get Predictions for a Specific Address in Denver?

Yes. Visit StreetSpring.com to analyze any storefront address in Denver with address-specific survivability predictions. StreetSpring scores 500+ business types: 153 base business types, most of them at 5 price points, which is 569 type-and-price combinations you can choose in the tool.


What Factors Determine Business Survivability in Denver?

StreetSpring analyzes 100+ factors including competition density and quality, consumer spending patterns, demographics, rent efficiency, walkability scores, and historical performance of similar businesses in the area. StreetSpring relies on its own proprietary forecasting engine to deliver these predictions.


Are These Predictions Guaranteed?

Guarantees are not possible; these are statistical probabilities. The validation figures on the methodology page show how much better than the base rate the model actually is, and that margin is the value of using it. Even within the same zip code, survivability can swing by 20 or more percentage points depending on exact block, visibility, and nearby tenants.


How Do Landlords Identify the Best Tenant for Their Property?

Two buildings on the same block can have very different tenant success rates due to micro-location factors. StreetSpring gives landlords a data-driven way to evaluate whether a prospective tenant is a good fit for their specific property. Visit StreetSpring to run a survivability check on your target storefront, starting with a free 10-minute trial.


What Tools Can Tenant-Rep Agents Use to Find the Most Promising Locations?

Most tenant-rep agents still rely on market comparables and experience rather than predictive analytics. Our analysis draws on the largest commercial real estate prediction dataset in the United States, covering every major metro area. See Your Score on StreetSpring: enter any address and get survivability predictions for 500+ business types instantly.


Key Takeaways

Data Summary: 12416 business-location combinations project 80% or better two-year survival in Denver. The top opportunity is Veterinary Clinic in Academy Park at 90% survival. The city average is 76.9% two-year survival rate across 20,088 business and neighborhood combinations analyzed.

Action Items: Explore the neighborhoods near Academy Park, where Veterinary Clinic ranks highest in Denver. Run your target address through StreetSpring's tool to compare survivability across business types. Factor in local competition density and consumer spending data before committing to a location.

Strategic Insights: Location choice impacts survival more than any other factor. Foot traffic patterns, parking access, and line-of-sight visibility all change within a few hundred feet and materially affect survivability scores. Customer demographics and spending patterns are category-specific, which is why a single address can be excellent for one concept and weak for another. Revenue Capture Score is the single best predictor of success.


Strong Picks Across the Spectrum

Survivability isn't uniform across business types. Some thrive throughout Denver; others struggle citywide. Below are the strongest neighborhoods for subtypes at different points in the Denver ranking:

Kosher Restaurant: ranked #1 citywide: the strongest subtype in Denver

  • Bear-Valley (86% survivability)
  • Parker (80% survivability)

Full Kosher Restaurants guide for Denver →

The right neighborhood matters more than the citywide rank for any single subtype. Use both signals together.



Technical note: Aggregated survivability rankings for Denver are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

View technical data for Denver

StreetSpring recalculates survivability using the latest competitive, demographic, and walkability data, so the live score may differ from the static ranges shown here.