What businesses are most in demand in Lake Balboa?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Lake Balboa are Pet Grooming Shops, Kosher Restaurants, and American Restaurants.

How much money could a business in Lake Balboa make?

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

What are the best businesses to open in Lake Balboa?

The top businesses to open in Lake Balboa include Pet Grooming Shop with a ~80% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~82%, followed by Kosher Restaurant and American Restaurant.

Is Lake Balboa a good place to start a business?

Lake Balboa is ranked number 156 across neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~73%. At the strongest addresses in Lake Balboa, the most viable business types score ~2% higher than the average survivability rate across all locations.

Business Survivability in Lake Balboa, Los Angeles

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Lake Balboa is a Pet Grooming Shop 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 Pet Grooming Shop in Lake Balboa (~80% average survival rate, ~82% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #156 across all neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles

Neighborhood average: ~73% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Reviewed: May 12, 2026 by Bobby Koons, StreetSpring founder

In this article:

Summary
Is Lake Balboa 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 Lake Balboa is a Pet Grooming Shop with a ~80% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~82% chance; next is a Kosher Restaurant with a ~80% chance, followed by an American Restaurant with a ~80% chance.

Should you open a business in Lake Balboa?

**Where else does Lake Balboa look like?** The strongest demographic and amenity-density matches are **Graceland West (Chicago)** and **Westfield (Baltimore)**, sharing longer commutes, older housing stock, and less walkable commutes. If you've worked in either of those neighborhoods, expect Lake Balboa to behave similarly on the dimensions that drive survival.

**What goes wrong in Lake Balboa.** Across 93 subtypes we track, **Pet Grooming Shop averages 80%** — the highest in the neighborhood. Yet a site-level look shows Pet Grooming Shops range from **73% to 89%** across Lake Balboa — a 16-point window where the address, not the concept, decides the outcome. For competitive density: Filipino Restaurants are the most-concentrated tracked subtype (18 within 0.5 miles).

Across all neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles, StreetSpring's data places Lake Balboa at #156 with a ~73% average Survivability Score.

At the strongest addresses in Lake Balboa, the most viable business types score ~2% higher than the average survivability rate across all locations.
Still, those same business types at weaker addresses in Lake Balboa can score well below the neighborhood mean. Even the most viable concept here requires the right address to reach its potential.
Lake Balboa's 4.2% 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.

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

StreetSpring scores survivability at the exact address level in Lake Balboa — so you can compare two storefronts on the same block before committing to a lease. Here is the top survivability address for a Pet Grooming Shop in Lake Balboa, per StreetSpring's 2026 model:

Walking the neighborhood: what to look for

Loading live map preview...

This map shows the optimal location for a Pet Grooming Shop in Lake Balboa based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. StreetSpring's survivability scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool. 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 →

The strongest business categories for Lake Balboa

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Lake Balboa

Pet Grooming Shop — ~78%–~82% survivability range, with an average of ~80% across Lake Balboa.
Opening a Kosher Restaurant in Lake Balboa shows ~80% average survivability. Top locations reach ~83%; lower-end sites show ~78%.
American Restaurant (Ranked #3): ~80% average in Lake Balboa. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~78%.
Ukrainian Restaurant is ranked #4 for top businesses to open in Lake Balboa: ~80% chance on average, best at ~82%, challenging at ~78%.
Pet Boarding Facility — ~78%–~82% survivability range, with an average of ~80% across Lake Balboa.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Lake Balboa

Opening a French Restaurant in Lake Balboa shows ~80% average survivability. Top locations reach ~81%; lower-end sites show ~78%.
Filipino Restaurant (Ranked #7): ~79% average in Lake Balboa. Best-case storefronts: ~81%. Challenging locations: ~77%.
Bar is ranked #8 for top businesses to open in Lake Balboa: ~79% chance on average, best at ~81%, challenging at ~77%.
Diner — ~77%–~81% survivability range, with an average of ~79% across Lake Balboa.
Opening a Scandinavian Restaurant in Lake Balboa shows ~79% average survivability. Top locations reach ~80%; lower-end sites show ~77%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

American Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

What revenue can a Lake Balboa business expect?

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, prioritizing survivability score in your site-selection process in Lake Balboa 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.
The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
The businesses that outperform their category averages most consistently are those that scored highest on survivability before opening.
StreetSpring analyzes your specific address against comparable businesses to forecast success.

Where the next great business in Lake Balboa should go

The top businesses to open next in Lake Balboa:

Pet Grooming Shops — ~80% average survival rate, up to ~82% at best locations
Kosher Restaurants — ~80% average survival rate
American Restaurants — ~80% average survival rate

StreetSpring's survivability scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool. We apply advanced machine learning to one of the largest commercial real estate outcome datasets in the country. A 4.2% vacancy rate in Lake Balboa reflects the current commercial environment; StreetSpring weights this directly in every survivability score for addresses in this neighborhood. These rankings are a snapshot; StreetSpring recalculates survivability for every location in Lake Balboa weekly, incorporating the latest competitive openings, closures, and spending data — check current locations now.

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 Lake Balboa.

What type of business should you rent your Lake Balboa storefront to?

Our 2026 survivability data for Lake Balboa shows that Pet Grooming Shops, Kosher Restaurants, and American Restaurants rank as the top tenant categories for minimizing vacancy risk.

The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
StreetSpring analyzes your specific address against comparable businesses to forecast success. Landlords can use StreetSpring to match their exact address to the tenant types most likely to stay open and paying rent for 2+ years.

Should you rent your Lake Balboa storefront to a Pet Grooming Shop?

Yes. Among all business types analyzed for Lake Balboa in 2026, a Pet Grooming Shop posts the highest survivability ceiling at ~82% and maintains a reasonable floor of ~78% — making it the most reliable tenant choice here.

StreetSpring analyzes your specific address against comparable businesses to forecast success.

What should I consider when opening a business in Lake Balboa?

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

The Revenue Capture Score at a specific address explains more about likely business success than any other available metric.
StreetSpring uses its own proprietary forecasting tools to identify the Revenue Capture Score for each unique business.
StreetSpring offers free access to its survivability scores — see how your shortlisted Lake Balboa addresses rank right now.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

StreetSpring's AI platform has analyzed thousands of business openings to identify success patterns. 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

Area to check	What can go wrong	How to de-risk it
Foot traffic seasonality	Looking at a peak-summer Tuesday and assuming year-round volume.	Walk the block at 3 different times across 2 different weeks. Ask neighboring tenants for their slow-season % drop.
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.
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 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

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

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.

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

**Lake Balboa at a glance.** Lake Balboa is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. The area was previously part of Van Nuys. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Balboa%2C_Los_Angeles))

**Daytime vs. resident population (Lake Balboa):** US Census LEHD workplace data shows Lake Balboa carries a **0.2× daytime/resident ratio** (a primarily-residential neighborhood with minimal daytime worker traffic), with median 1-mile workplace jobs of **8,702** (and **570** retail-sector jobs within that radius). A useful read on demand timing for any new storefront concept here.

Landmark anchor: Lake Balboa's park anchor is Louise Park, which sets weekend and warm-weather foot-traffic patterns for the surrounding blocks.

**Local economic context (Lake Balboa, Los Angeles):** Lake Balboa's ACS unemployment rate is **6.5%** (above the 24-metro neighborhood median). County-level data adds two more anchors: BLS QCEW reports Los Angeles-area average weekly wage of **$1,127** (below our 24-metro median), and the Census Bureau Building Permits Survey logged **22,446** new residential units in Los Angeles County in 2025 — a rough proxy for the local growth environment a new business is opening into.

**Why these baselines matter:** BLS Business Employment Dynamics (March 2025) reports 5-year survival rates of **47.8-61.8%** across the industries StreetSpring covers. Restaurants survive at **50.0%** nationally — not 20%. The location decision is what separates the 30% above the baseline from the 30% below.

Related:

Local Context FAQ

Further questions, with answers anchored on this neighborhood's actual data.

How does Lake Balboa's employment rate affect business survivability?

Roughly 94% of Lake Balboa's working-age population is employed, against a Los Angeles metro median of 93%. Employment is close to the metro median, suggesting stable underlying demand.

What does household composition look like in Lake Balboa?

Lake Balboa's average household has 2.8 people — above the Los Angeles metro average (2.7). Household composition is close to the metro average.

How does Los Angeles's survivability compare to national sector averages?

BLS publishes 5-year cohort survival rates by industry. For sectors StreetSpring covers, the range is 47.8-61.8% — Active Life low, Health & Medical high, Restaurants and Retail in the middle around 47.9-50%. Location-specific factors drive most of the variance around these baselines.