City Survivability Rankings for Thrift Store

Quick Summary

• Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
• The highest-survivability city for Thrift Store is San Antonio — 75.35% average survivability
• 6 of 24 analyzed US metros score above 70% for Thrift Store survivability
• The lowest-ranked city is Miami at 72.06%
• National average chance of lasting two or more years for Thrift Store: 74.0%
• Data reflects 2026 StreetSpring survivability analysis across 24 US metro areas · Full methodology →

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Table of Contents

• Summary
• Top Cities for Thrift Stores
• Key Insights
• What Makes These Cities Stand Out?
• Related Resources
• How current is this ranking?
• Can a Thrift Store succeed in cities not ranked in the top 10?
• What tools can help me choose the right city for a Thrift Store?
• Which US city has the best survivability for Thrift Stores?

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Summary

According to StreetSpring's 2026 nationwide analysis, San Antonio ranks as the #1 city for opening a Thrift Store in the United States, with an average 75.35% chance of surviving more than 2 years. Following close behind are Dallas with 75.27%, and Portland with 74.73%. Thrift Stores consistently deliver a 74.0% survivability average across our 24 analyzed metros, with top-ranked San Antonio 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 →

Best-to-worst Thrift Store survivability within individual metros — Portland, San Antonio, Miami, San Francisco and Dallas. Each box spans the middle of that metro's range; whiskers are its best and worst locations (2026).

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All 24 Cities Ranked for Thrift Stores

Based on StreetSpring's analysis of 24 major metropolitan areas, these cities offer the strongest prospects for Thrift Stores:

1. San Antonio Metro: San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX

• Best locations: 79.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 74.0% – 77.0%
• Challenging locations: 58.0% – 71.0%

2. Dallas Metro: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

• Best locations: 78.0% – 80.0%
• Average locations: 74.0% – 77.0%
• Challenging locations: 61.0% – 72.0%

3. Portland Metro: Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

• Best locations: 79.0% – 84.0%
• Average locations: 73.0% – 77.0%
• Challenging locations: 55.0% – 69.0%

4. St Louis

• Best locations: 79.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 73.0% – 76.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 70.0%

5. Charlotte Metro: Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC

• Best locations: 79.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 73.0% – 76.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 70.0%

6. Orlando Metro: Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 73.0% – 76.0%
• Challenging locations: 58.0% – 70.0%

7. Phoenix Metro: Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 72.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 69.0%

8. Tampa Bay Metro: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 72.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 58.0% – 69.0%

9. Atlanta Metro: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 72.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 56.0% – 69.0%

10. San Diego Metro: San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 72.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 56.0% – 69.0%

11. Minneapolis Metro: Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 72.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 56.0% – 69.0%

12. Houston Metro: Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 72.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 58.0% – 69.0%

13. Baltimore Metro: Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD

• Best locations: 78.0% – 82.0%
• Average locations: 72.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 69.0%

14. Los Angeles Metro: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

• Best locations: 78.0% – 82.0%
• Average locations: 72.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 69.0%

15. San Francisco Metro: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA

• Best locations: 77.0% – 81.0%
• Average locations: 72.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 69.0%

16. Boston Metro: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 71.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 68.0%

17. Denver Metro: Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO

• Best locations: 77.0% – 82.0%
• Average locations: 71.0% – 75.0%
• Challenging locations: 56.0% – 68.0%

18. Detroit Metro: Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 71.0% – 74.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 68.0%

19. Seattle Metro: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 71.0% – 74.0%
• Challenging locations: 56.0% – 68.0%

20. Chicago Metro: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

• Best locations: 78.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 71.0% – 74.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 68.0%

21. Washington DC Metro: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

• Best locations: 77.0% – 82.0%
• Average locations: 71.0% – 74.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 68.0%

22. Philadelphia Metro: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

• Best locations: 77.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 70.0% – 73.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 67.0%

23. New York City Metro: New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ

• Best locations: 77.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 70.0% – 73.0%
• Challenging locations: 57.0% – 67.0%

24. Miami Metro: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL

• Best locations: 77.0% – 83.0%
• Average locations: 70.0% – 73.0%
• Challenging locations: 56.0% – 67.0%

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Key Insights

Cities cluster tightly: The difference between the #1 city (San Antonio at 75.35%) and the #24 city (Miami at 72.06%) is 3.29 percentage points. At 0.1 points apart, San Antonio and Dallas are effectively tied for Thrift Stores. The survivability difference that matters shows up block by block.

National average: Across all 24 analyzed cities, the average survivability for a Thrift Store is 74.0%.

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What Makes These Cities Stand Out?

The top-ranked cities share several characteristics that favor Thrift Stores:

• Strong survivability signals: San Antonio leads with a 76% average chance of lasting two or more years for Thrift Stores — significantly above the national average for this business category.
• Competition density: The top cities show favorable competitor-to-opportunity ratios for Thrift Stores, meaning lower saturation and higher odds of capturing an underserved customer base.
• Regulatory environment: Top-ranked cities tend to have streamlined commercial permitting and lower business tax burdens relative to their metro size, reducing friction for new operators.
• Supply chain access: Cities at the top of this ranking benefit from mature supplier networks for this category, reducing operating costs and inventory lead times.

This analysis leverages machine learning trained on hundreds of thousands of business lifecycle events to produce reliable survivability forecasts. The analysis behind these rankings spans millions of data points across competition, spending, and mobility. StreetSpring relies on its own proprietary forecasting engine to deliver these predictions.

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Visual Data

Related Resources

City-specific guides: For detailed neighborhood-level analysis, explore our city guides:

• Business Survivability Rankings: San Antonio
• Business Survivability Rankings: Dallas
• Business Survivability Rankings: Portland
• Business Survivability Rankings: St Louis
• Business Survivability Rankings: Charlotte

National guides:

• National Neighborhood Survivability Rankings for Thrift Stores
• Neighborhood Survivability Rankings: San Antonio

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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 Thrift Stores, 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.

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Can a Thrift Store 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 Thrift Stores in cities that don't appear in our top 10. Thrift Stores 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.

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What tools can help me choose the right city for a Thrift Store?

StreetSpring's Survivability Score tool provides address-level predictions for Thrift Stores across all 24 metros we track. For this category specifically, the tool surfaces competition density, consumer spending index for Thrift Stores, and commercial vacancy rates — the factors that most consistently predict whether a Thrift Store 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 →

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Which US city has the best survivability for Thrift Stores?

San Antonio ranks as the #1 city in the US for Thrift Stores survivability in StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, with an average 76% chance of lasting two or more years. This means that across well-selected neighborhoods in San Antonio, a Thrift Store has approximately a 76% chance of still operating after two years — above the national average for this category. Dallas ranks second, followed by Portland. The full ranking reflects data across 24 major US metro areas — see the complete list above for all scores and neighborhood-level links.

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

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Technical note: Aggregated national survivability rankings across all 24 metros are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

View national technical data

StreetSpring recalculates survivability using the latest competitive, demographic, and walkability 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 24 major US metropolitan areas: San Antonio, Dallas, Portland, St Louis, Charlotte, Orlando, Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, San Diego, Minneapolis, Houston, Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York City, Miami.