City Survivability Rankings for Italian Restaurant
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks the top cities for Italian Restaurants across the US by Survivability Scores. See which cities offer the best chances for an Italian Restaurant to succeed.
Quick Summary
- The highest-survivability city for Italian Restaurant is St Louis — 85% average survivability
- 11 of 11 analyzed US metros score above 70% for Italian Restaurant survivability
- The lowest-ranked city is Baltimore at 79%
- National average survivability score for Italian Restaurant: 82.4%
- Data reflects 2026 StreetSpring survivability analysis across 11 US metro areas · Full methodology →
Table of Contents
- Summary
- Top Cities for Italian Restaurants
- Key Insights
- What Makes These Cities Stand Out?
- Related Resources
- How current is this ranking?
- Can an Italian Restaurant succeed in cities not ranked in the top 10?
- What tools can help me choose the right city for an Italian Restaurant?
- Which US city has the best survivability for Italian Restaurant?
Summary
According to StreetSpring's 2026 nationwide analysis, St Louis ranks as the #1 city for opening an Italian Restaurant in the United States, with an average 85% chance of surviving more than 2 years. Following close behind are Tampa Bay with 84%, and Charlotte with 83%. Italian Restaurants consistently deliver a 82.4% survivability average across our 11 analyzed metros, with top-ranked St Louis demonstrating the strongest conditions. Remember that a city's average score smooths over wide variation — your exact neighborhood could significantly outperform the city average. Market conditions shift frequently — use StreetSpring's live tool to confirm the current picture before committing to a location.
Survivability ranges reflect best and worst storefront conditions within each city. See our full methodology →
Italian Restaurant city survivability rankings — St Louis leads among 11 US metros at 85% in 2026
Top 10 Cities for Italian Restaurants
Based on StreetSpring's analysis of 11 major metropolitan areas, these cities offer the strongest prospects for Italian Restaurants:
1. St Louis
- Best locations: 91.6% – 99.0%
- Average locations: 82.2% – 87.1%
- Challenging locations: 58.0% – 77.2%
- Explore Italian Restaurant neighborhoods in St Louis →
2. Tampa Bay
- Best locations: 90.8% – 99.0%
- Average locations: 82.2% – 86.0%
- Challenging locations: 68.0% – 79.3%
- Explore Italian Restaurant neighborhoods in Tampa Bay →
3. Charlotte
- Best locations: 90.5% – 99.0%
- Average locations: 81.0% – 85.3%
- Challenging locations: 63.0% – 77.3%
- Explore Italian Restaurant neighborhoods in Charlotte →
4. San Antonio
- Best locations: 89.9% – 98.0%
- Average locations: 80.5% – 85.0%
- Challenging locations: 60.0% – 76.3%
- Explore Italian Restaurant neighborhoods in San Antonio →
5. Denver
- Best locations: 88.9% – 96.0%
- Average locations: 80.9% – 84.7%
- Challenging locations: 64.0% – 77.4%
- Explore Italian Restaurant neighborhoods in Denver →
6. Portland
- Best locations: 89.8% – 98.0%
- Average locations: 81.0% – 84.9%
- Challenging locations: 66.0% – 78.0%
- Explore Italian Restaurant neighborhoods in Portland →
7. Chicago
- Best locations: 89.1% – 97.0%
- Average locations: 80.7% – 84.3%
- Challenging locations: 67.0% – 77.9%
- Explore Italian Restaurant neighborhoods in Chicago →
8. Philadelphia
- Best locations: 88.6% – 98.0%
- Average locations: 78.7% – 83.0%
- Challenging locations: 62.0% – 75.3%
- Explore Italian Restaurant neighborhoods in Philadelphia →
9. San Diego
- Best locations: 88.6% – 98.0%
- Average locations: 78.6% – 82.9%
- Challenging locations: 62.0% – 75.2%
- Explore Italian Restaurant neighborhoods in San Diego →
10. Atlanta
- Best locations: 87.6% – 97.0%
- Average locations: 77.8% – 82.0%
- Challenging locations: 62.0% – 74.5%
- Explore Italian Restaurant neighborhoods in Atlanta →
Key Insights
Wide variation between cities: The difference between the #1 city (St Louis at 85.5%) and the #10 city (Atlanta at 79.9%) is 5.5 percentage points. The 1.3 percentage-point spread at the top signals that Italian Restaurants performance is highly sensitive to city-level factors — competition density and local spending both play significant roles.
Strong performers: 9 cities show Survivability Scores above 80%, indicating highly favorable conditions for Italian Restaurants.
National average: Across all 11 analyzed cities, the average survivability for an Italian Restaurant is 82.4%.
What Makes These Cities Stand Out?
The top-ranked cities share several characteristics that favor Italian Restaurants:
- Strong survivability signals: St Louis leads with a 85% average survivability score for Italian Restaurants — significantly above the national average for this business category.
- Competition density: The top cities show favorable competitor-to-opportunity ratios for Italian Restaurants, meaning lower saturation and higher odds of capturing an underserved customer base.
- Neighborhood diversity: Within each top city, high-survivability zones appear across multiple neighborhood types — from dense urban cores to established suburban strips.
- Geographic distribution: The top cities span multiple U.S. regions, giving franchise operators or multi-location owners diverse market options without concentrating risk.
Our analysis draws on millions of commercial real estate data points to deliver survivability predictions trusted by professionals nationwide. We apply advanced machine learning to massive commercial real estate datasets to build accurate models. StreetSpring's predictions leverage proprietary datasets covering competition, spending, and mobility.
Related Resources
City-specific guides: For detailed neighborhood-level analysis, explore our city guides:
- Survivability Rankings for Italian Restaurant in St Louis
- Business Survivability Rankings: St Louis
- Survivability Rankings for Italian Restaurant in Tampa Bay
- Business Survivability Rankings: Tampa Bay
- Survivability Rankings for Italian Restaurant in Charlotte
- Business Survivability Rankings: Charlotte
- Survivability Rankings for Italian Restaurant in San Antonio
- Business Survivability Rankings: San Antonio
- Survivability Rankings for Italian Restaurant in Denver
- Business Survivability Rankings: Denver
National guides:
- National Neighborhood Survivability Rankings for Italian Restaurants
- Neighborhood Survivability Rankings: St Louis
How current is this ranking?
Rankings are updated quarterly. The current data reflects StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, with the next full dataset refresh scheduled for Q3 2026. As market conditions shift across major metros, individual city scores can move meaningfully between updates — particularly for Italian Restaurants, where local competition density and consumer spending patterns respond quickly to new entrants and neighborhood change. For the most current score at any specific address, use StreetSpring's live survivability tool rather than the static ranking above.
Can an Italian Restaurant succeed in cities not ranked in the top 10?
Yes — our top 10 ranking reflects cities with the strongest average conditions, but lower-ranked metros can still contain exceptional individual neighborhoods. Many operators successfully open Italian Restaurants in cities that don't appear in our top 10. Italian Restaurants in particular can find strong performance in secondary markets where the right demographic concentration, household income, and limited direct competition within walking distance align — even outside our highest-ranked cities. StreetSpring's neighborhood-level data surfaces these pockets of opportunity in every city we analyze, regardless of where the city as a whole ranks nationally.
What tools can help me choose the right city for an Italian Restaurant?
StreetSpring's Survivability Score tool provides address-level predictions for Italian Restaurants across all 11 metros we track. For this category specifically, the tool surfaces competition density, consumer spending index for Italian Restaurants, and commercial vacancy rates — the factors that most consistently predict whether an Italian Restaurant will still be operating after two years. You can check any specific address before signing a lease and compare multiple neighborhoods side by side to identify the highest-survivability site within your target city.
Try the Survivability Score tool →
Which US city has the best survivability for Italian Restaurant?
St Louis ranks as the #1 city in the US for Italian Restaurant survivability in StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, with an average score of 85%. This means that across well-selected neighborhoods in St Louis, an Italian Restaurant has approximately a 85% chance of still operating after two years — above the national average for this category. Tampa Bay ranks second, followed by Charlotte. The full ranking reflects data across 11 major US metro areas — see the complete list above for all scores and neighborhood-level links.
Technical note: Aggregated national survivability rankings across all 25 metros are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
StreetSpring recalculates survivability using the latest competitive, demographic, and foot traffic data, so the live score may differ from the static ranges shown here.
Methodology: City rankings aggregate neighborhood-level Survivability Scores (max, average, and min) across all analyzed neighborhoods in each metro area. Rankings reflect average conditions but do not account for variation within cities. Coverage includes 11 major US metropolitan areas: St Louis, Tampa Bay, Charlotte, San Antonio, Denver, Portland, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, Atlanta, Baltimore.