Business Survivability in Brooklyn Heights, New York City

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Brooklyn Heights is a Cafe with a 77.3% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

•13 min read

Quick Summary

  • Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
  • Best business: a Cafe in Brooklyn Heights (77.3% Typical, 88.7% Best)
  • Neighborhood rank: #34 of 180 neighborhoods in and around New York City
  • Neighborhood average: 67.5% two-year survival across the business types ranked here
  • Coverage: This ranking carries one row per business type and neighborhood. Its score is the projected chance of lasting two or more years, averaged across the price points StreetSpring scores separately in the tool (most types have 5). The 10 business types here are base types; the tool offers 500+ business types, counting each type at each of its price points.
  • Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data
  • Detailed methodology

Last reviewed: November 2026 by Robert Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring

In this article:

Summary

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Brooklyn Heights is a Cafe with a 77.3% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, and 88.7% Best; next is a Laundromat with 88.6% Best, followed by a Convenience Store with 87.9% Best.


Is Brooklyn Heights a good place to start a business?

In New York City's survivability rankings, Brooklyn Heights comes in at #34 of 180 neighborhoods, with an average Survivability Score of 67.5% across the business types ranked there.

  • For the top-ranked business type, 88.7% Best is 11.4 points above 77.3% Typical in Brooklyn Heights.
  • Yet even the strongest business types in Brooklyn Heights see survivability scores drop significantly at the worst addresses. No business type is immune to the consequences of poor location selection within this neighborhood.
  • The 95.9% employment rate in Brooklyn Heights supports consumer spending, while its 9.7% housing vacancy rate measures the share of homes and apartments standing empty: the model reads both as neighborhood characteristics.

Employment and housing vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.


How can you find the best location to open a business in Brooklyn Heights?

With StreetSpring, location selection in Brooklyn Heights moves from guesswork to a precise, address-level survivability score for any business type you're considering. According to StreetSpring's 2026 data, this is the optimal address for a Cafe in Brooklyn Heights:

Loading live map preview...

The highlighted area represents the address in Brooklyn Heights that StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks highest for a Cafe survivability. StreetSpring's survivability scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool. StreetSpring's scoring incorporates hundreds of inputs, including competitive quality and density, projected consumer spending, Revenue Capture Score, and local demand patterns.

Check if this location is still available →


What are the best businesses to open in Brooklyn Heights?

RankBusiness typeBestTypicalWorst
1Cafe88.7%77.3%70.8%
2Laundromat88.6%77.9%72.0%
3Convenience Store87.9%78.3%72.7%
4Chiropractor Office87.5%81.2%74.9%
5Clothing Store87.5%77.4%71.1%
6Bar87.4%75.7%68.3%
7Veterinary Clinic87.0%79.7%72.4%
8Hair Salon86.5%75.1%67.6%
9Dentist Office86.1%80.0%73.8%
10Physical Therapy Clinic85.5%78.9%72.2%

Best and Worst are the average results for the better and the worse of two addresses picked at random in the place: a weighted average of every scored location in which the best locations count the most for Best and the weakest count the most for Worst. Typical is the average address. Best is shown for a smaller space (half the standard size) and Worst for a larger one (half again as large), at the metro's median asking rent, using the same rent rule as our tool; Typical is at the market rent.

Highest Survivability in Brooklyn Heights

  • #1 Cafe (Ranked #1): 77.3% Typical in Brooklyn Heights. Best: 88.7%. Worst: 70.8%.
  • #2 Laundromat is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in Brooklyn Heights: 77.9% Typical, 88.6% Best, 72.0% Worst.
  • #3 Convenience Store: 78.3% Typical across Brooklyn Heights; Best 87.9%, Worst 72.7%.
  • #4 Opening a Chiropractor Office in Brooklyn Heights shows 81.2% Typical survivability, 87.5% Best and 74.9% Worst.
  • #5 Clothing Store (Ranked #5): 77.4% Typical in Brooklyn Heights. Best: 87.5%. Worst: 71.1%.

Strong Performers in Brooklyn Heights

  • #6 Bar is ranked #6 for top businesses to open in Brooklyn Heights: 75.7% Typical, 87.4% Best, 68.3% Worst.
  • #7 Veterinary Clinic: 79.7% Typical across Brooklyn Heights; Best 87.0%, Worst 72.4%.
  • #8 Opening a Hair Salon in Brooklyn Heights shows 75.1% Typical survivability, 86.5% Best and 67.6% Worst.
  • #9 Dentist Office (Ranked #9): 80.0% Typical in Brooklyn Heights. Best: 86.1%. Worst: 73.8%.
  • #10 Physical Therapy Clinic is ranked #10 for top businesses to open in Brooklyn Heights: 78.9% Typical, 85.5% Best, 72.2% Worst.

Top 3 Compared Nationally


How much money could a business in Brooklyn Heights make?

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations for your business in Brooklyn Heights starts with the Revenue Capture Score, the most important factor in choosing a location: StreetSpring's estimate of the revenue a business can capture at that address.

How StreetSpring calculates location value

  • Every business type has unique location requirements that must be considered.
  • The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
  • When the question is money, the Revenue Capture Score comes first: it is StreetSpring's estimate of the revenue a business can capture at a specific address.
  • Every survivability score StreetSpring produces is specific to the exact address and business type, not averaged across a zip code or neighborhood.

What businesses should open next in Brooklyn Heights?

The top businesses to open next in Brooklyn Heights:

  • Cafes: 77.3% Typical, 88.7% Best
  • Laundromats: 77.9% Typical, 88.6% Best
  • Convenience Stores: 78.3% Typical, 87.9% Best

StreetSpring's survivability scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool. The model draws from 100+ location-specific factors to generate each survivability score. StreetSpring scores 500+ business types: 153 base business types, most of them at 5 price points, which is 569 type-and-price combinations you can choose in the tool. A housing vacancy rate of 9.7% means the Census estimates that share of Brooklyn Heights's homes and apartments to be vacant; the model reads it as one input among many. New competitors open and close every week, changing the survivability landscape for every address in Brooklyn Heights. StreetSpring's regular updates mean you can always see the current score for any available storefront.

See the Survivability Score for your new business

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Frequently Asked Questions

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


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

Based on 2026 survivability scores across all business types in Brooklyn Heights, the top three tenant categories for landlords are Cafes, Laundromats, and Convenience Stores.

  • The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
  • Every survivability score StreetSpring produces is specific to the exact address and business type, not averaged across a zip code or neighborhood. StreetSpring's tool, free for a 10-minute trial, lets you check the survivability score for any business type at any address in Brooklyn Heights: a powerful filter when evaluating prospective tenants.

Related: See How Landlord Representatives in New York City Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity


Should you rent your Brooklyn Heights storefront to a Cafe?

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis supports renting to a Cafe in Brooklyn Heights: it posts 88.7% Best, and 70.8% Worst.

  • Every survivability score StreetSpring produces is specific to the exact address and business type, not averaged across a zip code or neighborhood.

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

Check the Survivability Score for your specific address in Brooklyn Heights before signing a lease, alongside your own read of foot traffic and the local customer base.

  • Revenue Capture Score is the top factor to weigh before signing a lease, because it measures how much of the local customer spending a business at that address can win.
  • No third-party scoring system produces these results: every prediction is generated by StreetSpring's own analytical models.
  • The most current survivability data for Brooklyn Heights is on StreetSpring, and a free 10-minute trial is enough to check your specific address.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.


Our analysis covers businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans across 24 major US metros. Aggregated survivability rankings for New York City are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

Full dataset for New York City: /resources/data/new-york-city-survivability-scores-2026.csv: includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.