What are the best businesses to open in South Carthay?

The top businesses to open in South Carthay include Scandinavian Restaurant with a ~82% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~83%, followed by South American Restaurant and Mixed Martial Arts Studio.

What businesses are most in demand in South Carthay?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in South Carthay are Scandinavian Restaurants, South American Restaurants, and Mixed Martial Arts Studios.

How much money could a business in South Carthay make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in South Carthay could lead to making ~2% more than selecting an average location, and ~4% more than one of the worst locations.

Business Survivability in South Carthay, Los Angeles

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in South Carthay is a Scandinavian Restaurant 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 Scandinavian Restaurant in South Carthay (~82% average survival rate, ~83% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #98 across all neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles

Neighborhood average: ~75% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Reviewed and updated: May 2, 2026 — Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring

In this article:

Summary
Is South Carthay 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 South Carthay is a Scandinavian Restaurant with a ~82% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~83% chance; next is a South American Restaurant with a ~81% chance, followed by a Mixed Martial Arts Studio with a ~81% chance.

Is South Carthay a good place to start a business?

**Peer neighborhoods:** Looking at demographic mix and amenity density across the 24 metros StreetSpring covers, South Carthay clusters most tightly with **Sharswood (Philadelphia)** and **Gaskill (San Francisco)**. Common thread: more renters, more college-educated, and white-collar job mix. Survival outcomes for those neighborhoods provide a useful comparison set for South Carthay.

**Where South Carthay businesses actually fail.** Among the 93 tracked subtypes, **South American Restaurants** post the highest average survivability (81%). But across South Carthay's sites, the spread for this subtype runs **73% to 86%** — a 13-point gap that says *the address matters more than the subtype*. For saturation context, Middle Eastern Restaurants are the most densely-clustered tracked subtype in the neighborhood (24 competitors within 0.5 miles).

South Carthay is the #98 most survivable neighborhood for new businesses in and around Los Angeles, with an average score of ~75% across all analyzed categories.

Top-performing business types at the best addresses in South Carthay show a ~2% survival rate advantage over the neighborhood average.
Yet the same categories that score highest in South Carthay can underperform significantly at the wrong address. Location precision within the neighborhood matters as much as choosing the neighborhood itself.
With a 90.2% employment rate, South Carthay has the consumer spending foundation that supports a range of brick-and-mortar business types.

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 South Carthay?

The right address in South Carthay can mean a 20-point survivability difference from an average one — StreetSpring identifies exactly which addresses are worth pursuing. Here is the top survivability address for a Scandinavian Restaurant in South Carthay, per StreetSpring's 2026 model:

Why the right block matters more than the right neighborhood

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Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis of 100 location-specific factors, this area offers the highest projected survivability for a Scandinavian Restaurant in South Carthay. These figures represent averages across a neighborhood; your specific address may score meaningfully higher or lower depending on block-level competitive conditions. Factors evaluated include competition at every distance band, consumer spending forecasts, mobility patterns, and market share projections.

Check if this location is still available →

Top-ranked business types for South Carthay

#1-5: Highest Survivability in South Carthay

Scandinavian Restaurant is ranked #1 for top businesses to open in South Carthay: ~82% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~80%.
South American Restaurant — ~80%–~83% survivability range, with an average of ~81% across South Carthay.
Opening a Mixed Martial Arts Studio in South Carthay shows ~81% average survivability. Top locations reach ~83%; lower-end sites show ~79%.
Pet Boarding Facility (Ranked #4): ~80% average in South Carthay. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~79%.
Filipino Restaurant is ranked #5 for top businesses to open in South Carthay: ~80% chance on average, best at ~82%, challenging at ~78%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in South Carthay

Indonesian Restaurant — ~79%–~82% survivability range, with an average of ~80% across South Carthay.
Opening a Watch Store or Repair Shop in South Carthay shows ~80% average survivability. Top locations reach ~83%; lower-end sites show ~77%.
Hot Pot Restaurant (Ranked #8): ~80% average in South Carthay. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~78%.
Diner is ranked #9 for top businesses to open in South Carthay: ~80% chance on average, best at ~82%, challenging at ~78%.
French Restaurant — ~78%–~81% survivability range, with an average of ~80% across South Carthay.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

What you could earn opening a business in South Carthay

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations for your business in South Carthay could lead to you making ~2% more than if you selected an average location, and ~4% 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.
Site selection is the highest-leverage decision most entrepreneurs make — it sets every other variable in motion.
Survivability Score is not just a survival metric — it's a revenue predictor, and the higher the score, the stronger the long-term financial outlook.
No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does.

What South Carthay needs more of (per our model)

The top businesses to open next in South Carthay:

Scandinavian Restaurants — ~82% average survival rate, up to ~83% at best locations
South American Restaurants — ~81% average survival rate
Mixed Martial Arts Studios — ~81% average survival rate

These figures represent averages across a neighborhood; your specific address may score meaningfully higher or lower depending on block-level competitive conditions. We apply advanced machine learning to one of the largest commercial real estate outcome datasets in the country. South Carthay sits at 90.2% employment and 8.5% commercial vacancy — conditions that set the ceiling and floor for Revenue Capture potential across all business types here. StreetSpring refreshes survivability scores every week to reflect new competition and updated spending data — see which locations in South Carthay are available right now and how they rank.

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 South Carthay.

What type of business should you rent your South Carthay storefront to?

For landlords in South Carthay, StreetSpring's 2026 analysis identifies Scandinavian Restaurants, South American Restaurants, and Mixed Martial Arts Studios as the business types most likely to produce stable, long-term tenancy.

Site selection is the highest-leverage decision most entrepreneurs make — it sets every other variable in motion.
No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does. StreetSpring can show you which specific address in your portfolio scores highest for each tenant type.

Should you rent your South Carthay storefront to a Scandinavian Restaurant?

Yes. Among all business types analyzed for South Carthay in 2026, a Scandinavian Restaurant posts the highest survivability ceiling at ~83% and maintains a reasonable floor of ~80% — making it the most reliable tenant choice here.

No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does.

What should I consider when opening a business in South Carthay?

Location decisions in South Carthay should be grounded in Survivability Score data, not intuition. The score directly measures the competitive and spending conditions at your exact address.

High Revenue Capture Score is the clearest signal that a location can sustain a business over the long term.
No third-party scoring system produces these results — every prediction is generated by StreetSpring's own analytical models.
You can check the Survivability Score for any storefront in South Carthay at no cost using StreetSpring's live tool.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

StreetSpring's models are built from millions of real business outcomes, making predictions grounded in what actually happened. Aggregated survivability rankings for Los Angeles are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

Build-out budget rules-of-thumb for this neighborhood

Consideration	Common pitfall	What to verify before signing
Permits & licensing	Assuming a 30-day permit timeline, hitting 90+ days, paying rent on a non-operating storefront.	Call the local zoning office before signing. Confirm your use is already permitted; if not, factor a 2-3 month variance timeline.
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 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

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

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.

How we measure this: Most retail competition operates within a 500-meter radius — outside that, behavioral economics show customers don't routinely switch.

**About this neighborhood.** South Carthay is a neighborhood in Central Los Angeles, California. Located south of Carthay Circle, South Carthay was developed in the 1930s by Spyros George Ponty. Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carthay%2C_Los_Angeles).

**South Carthay economic snapshot:** ACS reports neighborhood unemployment at **9.8%** (above the 24-metro neighborhood median we track). The Los Angeles metro's BLS QCEW average weekly wage is **$1,127** (below our metro median), and the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey logged **22,446** new residential permits in Los Angeles 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:

Beyond the Numbers: Local Context

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

How does South Carthay's vacancy rate affect commercial demand?

South Carthay's housing vacancy rate is roughly 9%, compared to 5% across the Los Angeles metro. Elevated vacancy can mean softening demand or short-term opportunity to negotiate rent — verify against commercial-corridor activity before committing.

What does the employment picture in South Carthay look like for new businesses?

Roughly 90% of South Carthay's working-age population is employed, against a Los Angeles metro median of 93%. Below-average employment can constrain discretionary spending — value-oriented and essential services tend to fare better.

How does economic hardship in South Carthay compare to the metro?

The poverty rate in South Carthay is approximately 13%, compared to the Los Angeles metro median of 11%. The poverty rate tracks the metro median; business-type fit depends more on competition and demographic specifics.

What does household composition look like in South Carthay?

ACS data puts average household size in South Carthay at 2.0, compared to 2.7 across Los Angeles. Smaller households suggest more singles or couples — favorable for casual dining, fitness, and convenience retail.

How educated is the population in South Carthay?

Approximately 59% of South Carthay adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 39% across the Los Angeles metro. A highly educated population tends to support specialty retail, premium services, and professional offices.