Is Harvard Heights a good place to start a business?

Harvard Heights is ranked number 92 across neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~76%. At the strongest addresses in Harvard Heights, the most viable business types score ~2% higher than the average survivability rate across all locations.

How much money could a business in Harvard Heights make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Harvard Heights could lead to making ~2% more than selecting an average location, and ~5% more than one of the worst locations.

What businesses are most in demand in Harvard Heights?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Harvard Heights are Dance Clubs, Kosher Restaurants, and Mediterranean Restaurants.

Business Survivability in Harvard Heights, Los Angeles

Q: What is the median household income in Harvard Heights?

Harvard Heights's median household income (~$69K) is below the Los Angeles metro median (~$113K) by approximately $44K. 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 Harvard Heights is a Dance Club with a ~82% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•18 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: a Dance Club in Harvard Heights (~82% average survival rate, ~84% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #92 across all neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles

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

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Last reviewed: May 6, 2026 by Bobby Koons, StreetSpring founder — updated weekly

In this article:

Summary
Is Harvard Heights 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 Harvard Heights is a Dance Club with a ~82% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~84% chance; next is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~81% chance, followed by a Mediterranean Restaurant with a ~81% chance.

How business-friendly is Harvard Heights right now?

**Pattern match:** Harvard Heights's neighborhood signature — captured across demographic, employment, and amenity features — most closely matches **West Kensington (Philadelphia)** and **Oak Center (San Francisco)**. The three share low high-earner share, lower-income, and higher poverty, which helps explain why business types that succeed in those areas tend to translate to Harvard Heights.

**The pattern in Harvard Heights.** Of 93 tracked subtypes, Dance Club leads at **82% average survivability** — yet within the neighborhood, sites for this subtype range **77-87%** (10-point spread). That spread is the real failure surface: pick the wrong block in Harvard Heights and a top-subtype play still scores in the bottom quartile. Meanwhile Gyms are already saturated here — 29 competitors within a 0.5-mile radius.

StreetSpring's analysis places Harvard Heights at #92 in Los Angeles for new business survival odds, with a neighborhood-wide average of ~76%.

At the strongest addresses in Harvard Heights, the most viable business types score ~2% higher than the average survivability rate across all locations.
But at poorly chosen addresses within Harvard Heights, even the top-ranked business types can fall well below the neighborhood average. Location selection remains critical — a promising concept at the wrong spot still carries significant risk.
A 93.8% employment rate in Harvard Heights means a large share of local consumers have steady income — a strong underlying condition for discretionary spending businesses.

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 Harvard Heights?

StreetSpring's address-level analysis reveals which specific storefronts in Harvard Heights offer the strongest survivability odds for your business type. Of all available storefronts analyzed in Harvard Heights, StreetSpring ranks this area highest for a Dance Club in 2026:

The locations that show up in our top-10 lists

Loading live map preview...

This map shows the optimal location for a Dance Club in Harvard Heights based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. However, individual locations vary widely, and even in lower-scoring neighborhoods there are pockets that perform exceptionally well. The prediction model incorporates 100 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 Harvard Heights?

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Harvard Heights

Opening a Dance Club in Harvard Heights shows ~82% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~80%.
Kosher Restaurant (Ranked #2): ~81% average in Harvard Heights. Best-case storefronts: ~84%. Challenging locations: ~80%.
Mediterranean Restaurant is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Harvard Heights: ~81% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~80%.
Convenience Store — ~78%–~83% survivability range, with an average of ~81% across Harvard Heights.
Opening a Mixed Martial Arts Studio in Harvard Heights shows ~81% average survivability. Top locations reach ~83%; lower-end sites show ~78%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Harvard Heights

Nail Salon (Ranked #6): ~81% average in Harvard Heights. Best-case storefronts: ~83%. Challenging locations: ~78%.
Day Care Center is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Harvard Heights: ~81% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~78%.
Deli — ~79%–~82% survivability range, with an average of ~81% across Harvard Heights.
Opening an Ukrainian Restaurant in Harvard Heights shows ~81% average survivability. Top locations reach ~83%; lower-end sites show ~78%.
Dessert Shop (Ranked #10): ~81% average in Harvard Heights. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~78%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

Dance Club — See how this compares to other cities →

The revenue potential of a Harvard Heights location

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, identifying the optimal address for your business type in Harvard Heights could lead to you making ~2% 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

Even within a high-performing neighborhood, the best location varies by business type — StreetSpring scores each combination separately.
Where you open matters more than anything else.
Across every business type we've analyzed, location quality as measured by Survivability Score is the strongest predictor of financial performance.
Two storefronts on the same street can have survivability scores that differ by 20 points or more — StreetSpring calculates each one individually.

The biggest opportunity gaps in Harvard Heights

The top businesses to open next in Harvard Heights:

Dance Clubs — ~82% average survival rate, up to ~84% at best locations
Kosher Restaurants — ~81% average survival rate
Mediterranean Restaurants — ~81% average survival rate

However, individual locations vary widely, and even in lower-scoring neighborhoods there are pockets that perform exceptionally well. The model draws from 100+ location-specific factors to generate each survivability score. Harvard Heights's combination of 93.8% employment and 11.8% vacancy creates the conditions that define which business types thrive here and which struggle. StreetSpring updates survivability scores for available locations weekly — check the live tool now to see which storefronts in Harvard Heights are currently available and how they score.

See the Survivability Score for your new business

Related Articles:

See the Los Angeles Business Survivability Rankings
See the Los Angeles Neighborhood Survivability Rankings

Frequently Asked Questions

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

What type of business should you rent your Harvard Heights storefront to?

For landlords in Harvard Heights, StreetSpring's 2026 analysis identifies Dance Clubs, Kosher Restaurants, and Mediterranean Restaurants as the business types most likely to produce stable, long-term tenancy.

Where you open matters more than anything else.
Two storefronts on the same street can have survivability scores that differ by 20 points or more — StreetSpring calculates each one individually. 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 Harvard Heights storefront to a Dance Club?

According to our 2026 survivability model, a Dance Club leads all business categories for Harvard Heights landlords — ~84% at the best addresses and ~80% at the most challenging ones in this neighborhood.

Two storefronts on the same street can have survivability scores that differ by 20 points or more — StreetSpring calculates each one individually.

What should I consider when opening a business in Harvard Heights?

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

Revenue Capture Score matters more than any other single metric when predicting business outcomes.
Each forecast is specific to the exact address and business type, generated by StreetSpring's internally developed prediction engine.
No subscription required: access the current survivability score for any Harvard Heights address through StreetSpring's free tool.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

Real estate professionals and business owners across 24 major metros use StreetSpring to ground their site-selection decisions in data, not guesswork. Aggregated survivability rankings for Los Angeles 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.
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.

Full dataset for Los Angeles: /resources/data/los-angeles-survivability-scores-2026.csv — includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Visual Data

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

Treemap of Los Angeles business mix by survivability score — Treemap of business mix in Los Angeles — cell size = number of locations, color = average survivability score.

Radar chart of business-subtype survivability in Harvard Heights, Los Angeles — Top business types scored in Harvard Heights, Los Angeles — each axis is a subtype, taller = stronger survival rate.

How we measure this: Supplier proximity matters more for some subtypes (restaurants, repair shops) than others (online-anchored retail).

**About this neighborhood.** Harvard Heights is a neighborhood in West Adams district of Los Angeles. It lies within a city designated historic preservation overlay zone designed to protect its architecturally significant single-family residences, including the Lucy E. Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Heights%2C_Los_Angeles).

**Three local anchors for Harvard Heights:** **6.2%** neighborhood unemployment (above the 24-metro median, ACS), **$1,127/week** average wage in the Los Angeles area (below our metro median, BLS QCEW), and **22,446** new residential units permitted in Los Angeles County in 2025 (Census BPS). These three together describe the demand-and-labor environment any new Harvard Heights business operates within.

**National benchmark:** Per BLS Business Employment Dynamics (March 2025), 5-year survival rates for StreetSpring's tracked industries span **47.8-61.8%**. Restaurants — the most-studied of these — survive at **50.0%** nationally, not the often-cited "80% fail" myth. The real risk premium is at the location level, which is what StreetSpring's model isolates.

Related:

Neighborhood-Specific Questions

More questions answered with neighborhood-specific data from our 2026 corpus.

What is the median household income in Harvard Heights?

Harvard Heights's median household income (~~$69K) is below the Los Angeles metro median (~~$113K) by approximately $44K. Lower median income tends to favor value-oriented retail, fast-casual food, and necessity-driven services.

Is Harvard Heights's population younger or older than the Los Angeles average?

ACS data puts Harvard Heights's median age at 38, compared to the Los Angeles metro median of 39. That's younger by 1 year — The demographic profile is close to the metro average, so business-type fit is driven by other factors like income and competition.

What does the employment picture in Harvard Heights look like for new businesses?

ACS labor-force data shows an employment rate of about 94% in Harvard Heights, versus 93% across Los Angeles. Employment is close to the metro median, suggesting stable underlying demand.

What's the home ownership rate in Harvard Heights, and why does it matter?

Home ownership in Harvard Heights is approximately 11%, versus the Los Angeles metro median of 43%. A higher renter share often means more population turnover; quick-service food, fitness, and convenience tend to do well in such environments.

How many people live in Harvard Heights?

Approximately 31.5K people live in Harvard Heights, which puts it in the middle range among Los Angeles neighborhoods. The resident base is moderate; business-type fit depends more on capturing nearby commuter or destination traffic.