Business Survivability in Dumbo, New York City

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Dumbo is a Dance Club with a ~81% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

12 min read

Quick Summary

  • Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
  • Best business: a Dance Club in Dumbo (~81% average survival rate, ~82% at best locations)
  • Neighborhood rank: #93 across all neighborhoods in and around New York City
  • Neighborhood average: ~79% two-year survival across all business types
  • 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: September 2026 by Robert Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring

In this article:

Summary

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Dumbo is a Dance Club with a ~81% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~82% chance; next is a French Restaurant with a 79.48% chance, followed by a Soul Food or Southern Restaurant with a 78.97% chance.


Is Dumbo a good place to start a business?

In New York City's neighborhood survivability rankings, Dumbo comes in at #93, with an average Survivability Score of ~79% across all business types.

  • The top business types in Dumbo, when placed at their ideal addresses, achieve survivability rates ~5% above the neighborhood-wide average.
  • However, those same business types at the weakest addresses in Dumbo can score considerably below average. Even the most in-demand concept in Dumbo will struggle if it opens at the wrong address.
  • Commercial vacancy in Dumbo sits at 11.7%, a figure that factors into survivability scores for every business type in this neighborhood.

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 Dumbo?

StreetSpring can pinpoint which exact blocks in Dumbo maximize a business's chances of success. The map below shows the highest-scoring storefront area for a Dance Club in Dumbo per 2026 data:

Loading live map preview...

This map shows the optimal location for a Dance Club in Dumbo based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. However, individual locations vary widely, and even in lower-scoring neighborhoods there are pockets that perform exceptionally well. The prediction model incorporates hundreds of location-specific factors, including competitive density, forecasted consumer spending, mobility patterns, and Revenue Capture Score.

Check if this location is still available →


What are the best businesses to open in Dumbo?

#Business typeChance of lasting two or more years
1Dance Club80.77%
2French Restaurant79.48%
3Southern Food Restaurant78.97%
4Steakhouse78.84%
5Seafood Restaurant78.39%
6Nail Salon78.24%
7Grocery Store78.21%
8Liquor Store77.87%
9Tanning Salon77.60%
10Barber Shop77.48%

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Dumbo

  1. Opening a Dance Club in Dumbo shows 80.77% average survivability. Top locations reach ~82%; lower-end sites show ~79%.
  2. French Restaurant (Ranked #2): 79.48% average in Dumbo. Best-case storefronts: ~80%. Challenging locations: ~77%.
  3. Southern Food Restaurant is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Dumbo: 78.97% chance on average, best at ~81%, challenging at ~76%.
  4. Steakhouse — ~77%–~81% survivability range, with an average of 78.84% across Dumbo.
  5. Opening a Seafood Restaurant in Dumbo shows 78.39% average survivability. Top locations reach ~80%; lower-end sites show ~76%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Dumbo

  1. Nail Salon (Ranked #6): 78.24% average in Dumbo. Best-case storefronts: ~80%. Challenging locations: ~76%.
  2. Grocery Store is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Dumbo: 78.21% chance on average, best at ~80%, challenging at ~76%.
  3. Liquor Store — ~75%–~80% survivability range, with an average of 77.87% across Dumbo.
  4. Opening a Tanning Salon in Dumbo shows 77.60% average survivability. Top locations reach ~79%; lower-end sites show ~75%.
  5. Barber Shop (Ranked #10): 77.48% average in Dumbo. Best-case storefronts: ~79%. Challenging locations: ~76%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

  • Dance Club — See how this compares to other cities →
  • French Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →
  • Southern Food Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

How much money could a business in Dumbo make?

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting a storefront that StreetSpring ranks in the top tier for your business type in Dumbo could lead to you making ~5% more than if you selected an average location, and ~10% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.

How StreetSpring calculates location value

  • Different business models thrive in different micro-locations.
  • Where you open matters more than anything else.
  • 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.
  • Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for 500+ business types at any given storefront.

What businesses should open next in Dumbo?

The top businesses to open next in Dumbo:

  • Dance Clubs — 80.77% average survival rate, ~82% at the best address
  • French Restaurants — 79.48% average survival rate
  • Southern Food Restaurants — 78.97% average survival rate

However, individual locations vary widely, and even in lower-scoring neighborhoods there are pockets that perform exceptionally well. StreetSpring's training dataset includes millions of transactions and business lifecycle events. 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. With Dumbo's 98.2% employment rate factored in, the businesses best positioned to succeed here are those that benefit from a well-employed, spending-capable local consumer base. These rankings are a snapshot; StreetSpring recalculates survivability for every location in Dumbo weekly, incorporating the latest competitive openings, closures, and spending data — check current locations now.

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 Dumbo.


What type of business should you rent your Dumbo storefront to?

According to StreetSpring's 2026 data, the strongest tenant types for a storefront in Dumbo are Dance Clubs, French Restaurants, and Southern Food Restaurants.

  • Where you open matters more than anything else.
  • Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for 500+ business types at any given storefront. With StreetSpring, you can rank every potential tenant type by survivability score at your property address before committing to a lease.

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


Should you rent your Dumbo storefront to a Dance Club?

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis strongly supports renting to a Dance Club in Dumbo: best-in-class addresses achieve ~82% survivability, and even the lower-end sites come in at ~79% — above average for most business types.

  • Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for 500+ business types at any given storefront.

What should I consider when opening a business in Dumbo?

Survivability Score is the North Star metric for any location decision in Dumbo: it aggregates 100+ factors so you don't have to evaluate each one individually.

  • Revenue Capture Score matters more than any other single metric when predicting business outcomes.
  • These forecasts are generated using StreetSpring's unique analytical framework.
  • StreetSpring's address-level survivability data is available free of charge — start with your top candidate locations in Dumbo.

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 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.