Business Survivability in Kensington, New York City

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Kensington is an Indian Restaurant with a ~80% 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: an Indian Restaurant in Kensington (~80% average survival rate, ~80% at best locations)
  • Neighborhood rank: #81 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 Kensington is an Indian Restaurant with a ~80% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~80% chance; next is a Pakistani Restaurant with a 79.49% chance, followed by a Pizza Restaurant with a 78.22% chance.


Is Kensington a good place to start a business?

Kensington holds the #81 position in and around New York City for new business survivability, averaging ~79% across all analyzed business types.

  • StreetSpring data shows the best-fit business types at prime Kensington addresses outperform the neighborhood average by ~2%.
  • However, those same business types at the weakest addresses in Kensington can score considerably below average. Even the most in-demand concept in Kensington will struggle if it opens at the wrong address.
  • A 92.9% employment rate in Kensington means a large share of local consumers have steady income — a strong underlying condition for discretionary spending businesses.

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 Kensington?

Using StreetSpring, you can identify the exact address in Kensington that gives your specific business concept the highest survivability score. Here is the top survivability address for an Indian Restaurant in Kensington, per StreetSpring's 2026 model:

Loading live map preview...

According to StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, this circle outlines the best area for an Indian Restaurant in Kensington. 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 prediction model analyzes hundreds of factors across competition, spending on the specific potential business, projected revenue, projected market share, Revenue Capture Score, mobility patterns, and many more.

Check if this location is still available →


What are the best businesses to open in Kensington?

#Business typeChance of lasting two or more years
1Indian Restaurant79.50%
2Pakistani Restaurant79.49%
3Pizza Restaurant78.22%
4Nail Salon77.95%
5Convenience Store77.91%
6Laundromat77.09%
7Grocery Store76.98%
8Hair Salon76.94%
9Beauty Salon76.81%
10Gym76.73%

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Kensington

  1. Opening an Indian Restaurant in Kensington shows 79.50% average survivability. Top locations reach ~80%; lower-end sites show ~78%.
  2. Pakistani Restaurant (Ranked #2): 79.49% average in Kensington. Best-case storefronts: ~80%. Challenging locations: ~78%.
  3. Pizza Restaurant is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Kensington: 78.22% chance on average, best at ~81%, challenging at ~75%.
  4. Nail Salon — ~75%–~80% survivability range, with an average of 77.95% across Kensington.
  5. Opening a Convenience Store in Kensington shows 77.91% average survivability. Top locations reach ~81%; lower-end sites show ~74%.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Kensington

  1. Laundromat (Ranked #6): 77.09% average in Kensington. Best-case storefronts: ~80%. Challenging locations: ~74%.
  2. Grocery Store is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Kensington: 76.98% chance on average, best at ~80%, challenging at ~74%.
  3. Hair Salon — ~74%–~80% survivability range, with an average of 76.94% across Kensington.
  4. Opening a Beauty Salon in Kensington shows 76.81% average survivability. Top locations reach ~80%; lower-end sites show ~71%.
  5. Gym (Ranked #10): 76.73% average in Kensington. Best-case storefronts: ~79%. Challenging locations: ~74%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

  • Indian Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →
  • Pakistani Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →
  • Pizza Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

How much money could a business in Kensington make?

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, identifying the optimal address for your business type in Kensington could lead to you making ~2% more than if you selected an average location, and ~6% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.

How StreetSpring calculates location value

  • However, each business concept should be evaluated for fit within each potential location.
  • Survivability data consistently shows location accounts for more variance in business outcomes than any other controllable factor.
  • Our data shows that the single highest-impact decision a business owner makes is the address they choose — and Survivability Score is the best guide to that decision.
  • StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success.

What businesses should open next in Kensington?

The top businesses to open next in Kensington:

  • Indian Restaurants — 79.50% average survival rate, ~80% at the best address
  • Pakistani Restaurants — 79.49% average survival rate
  • Pizza Restaurants — 78.22% average survival rate

StreetSpring's survivability scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool. StreetSpring has analyzed hundreds of thousands of business outcomes across major U.S. metros. 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. Kensington sits at 92.9% employment and 7.0% commercial vacancy — conditions that set the ceiling and floor for Revenue Capture potential across all business types here. Survivability scores are live, not static — StreetSpring updates them weekly. Visit the tool to see what's currently available in Kensington and how each address is scoring right 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 Kensington.


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

StreetSpring's analysis shows that the business types most likely to succeed long-term in Kensington are Indian Restaurants, Pakistani Restaurants, and Pizza Restaurants.

  • Survivability data consistently shows location accounts for more variance in business outcomes than any other controllable factor.
  • StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success. 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 Kensington storefront to an Indian Restaurant?

Yes — our 2026 model places an Indian Restaurant at the top of the survivability rankings for Kensington storefronts, with a best-case score of ~80% and a floor of ~78% at the most challenging addresses.

  • StreetSpring can pinpoint which blocks in each neighborhood or city maximize a business's chances of success.

What should I consider when opening a business in Kensington?

StreetSpring's Survivability Score for your Kensington address is the clearest forward-looking indicator of whether your business will be operating two years from now — make it the first number you check.

  • Revenue Capture is where competition meets spending — and it's the number that matters most when choosing a location.
  • No third-party scoring system produces these results — every prediction is generated by StreetSpring's own analytical models.
  • StreetSpring's address-level survivability data is available free of charge — start with your top candidate locations in Kensington.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.


StreetSpring's AI platform has analyzed thousands of business openings to identify success patterns. 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.