Business Survivability in Elmwood, Philadelphia
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Elmwood is a Cafe with a 79.4% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.
Quick Summary
- Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
- Best business: a Cafe in Elmwood (79.4% Typical, 88.2% Best)
- Neighborhood rank: #98 of 127 neighborhoods in and around Philadelphia
- Neighborhood average: 63.2% 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
- Is Elmwood a good place to start a business?
- How to find the best location
- Best businesses to open
- How much money could a business make?
- What businesses should open next?
- Frequently Asked Questions
Summary
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Elmwood is a Cafe with a 79.4% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, and 88.2% Best; next is a Convenience Store with 88.1% Best, followed by a Hair Salon with 86.9% Best.
Is Elmwood a good place to start a business?
In Philadelphia's survivability rankings, Elmwood comes in at #98 of 127 neighborhoods, with an average Survivability Score of 63.2% across the business types ranked there.
- For the top-ranked business type, 88.2% Best is 8.8 points above 79.4% Typical in Elmwood.
- However, those high-scoring categories placed at the least-competitive addresses in Elmwood often fall well below average. Picking the right block (not just the right neighborhood) is what actually determines survivability.
- Housing vacancy in Elmwood sits at 6.4%, a Census figure that StreetSpring's model reads for every business type it scores here.
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 Elmwood?
StreetSpring narrows the decision down to the exact address, showing which blocks in Elmwood produce the highest survivability scores for your concept. StreetSpring's 2026 analysis identifies this area as the top location for a Cafe in Elmwood:
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis of hundreds of location-specific factors, this area offers the highest projected survivability for a Cafe in Elmwood. These rankings are based on the latest available data; check StreetSpring for real-time updates. Factors evaluated include competition at every distance band, consumer spending forecasts, mobility patterns, and market share projections.
Check if this location is still available →
What are the best businesses to open in Elmwood?
| Rank | Business type | Best | Typical | Worst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cafe | 88.2% | 79.4% | 74.1% |
| 2 | Convenience Store | 88.1% | 78.8% | 73.7% |
| 3 | Hair Salon | 86.9% | 77.1% | 71.3% |
| 4 | Clothing Store | 84.3% | 75.5% | 69.1% |
| 5 | Coffee Shop | 83.2% | 74.5% | 68.2% |
| 6 | Chiropractor Office | 83.2% | 78.6% | 74.0% |
| 7 | Veterinary Clinic | 82.4% | 77.2% | 72.1% |
| 8 | Physical Therapy Clinic | 81.4% | 76.2% | 71.0% |
| 9 | Dermatology Clinic | 81.3% | 76.0% | 70.7% |
| 13 | Laundromat | 78.9% | 72.2% | 65.8% |
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.
The rank column is the published file's rank within this place; a skipped number is a business type the file ranks here that this list leaves out to keep any one business family from filling it.
Highest Survivability in Elmwood
- #1 Opening a Cafe in Elmwood shows 79.4% Typical survivability, 88.2% Best and 74.1% Worst.
- #2 Convenience Store (Ranked #2): 78.8% Typical in Elmwood. Best: 88.1%. Worst: 73.7%.
- #3 Hair Salon is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Elmwood: 77.1% Typical, 86.9% Best, 71.3% Worst.
- #4 Clothing Store: 75.5% Typical across Elmwood; Best 84.3%, Worst 69.1%.
- #5 Opening a Coffee Shop in Elmwood shows 74.5% Typical survivability, 83.2% Best and 68.2% Worst.
Strong Performers in Elmwood
- #6 Chiropractor Office (Ranked #6): 78.6% Typical in Elmwood. Best: 83.2%. Worst: 74.0%.
- #7 Veterinary Clinic is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Elmwood: 77.2% Typical, 82.4% Best, 72.1% Worst.
- #8 Physical Therapy Clinic: 76.2% Typical across Elmwood; Best 81.4%, Worst 71.0%.
- #9 Opening a Dermatology Clinic in Elmwood shows 76.0% Typical survivability, 81.3% Best and 70.7% Worst.
- #13 Laundromat (Ranked #13): 72.2% Typical in Elmwood. Best: 78.9%. Worst: 65.8%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Cafe: See how this compares to other cities →
- Convenience Store: See how this compares to other cities →
- Hair Salon: See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Elmwood make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, choosing an address that maximizes your Revenue Capture Score in Elmwood 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
- Location fit is business-type-specific: a spot that's ideal for a coffee shop may underperform for a nail salon at the same address.
- Survivability data lets you compare locations on the same projected two-year chance before you open.
- StreetSpring's Revenue Capture Score, the revenue a business can capture at a specific address, is the factor that matters most when comparing locations.
- Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for 500+ business types at any given storefront.
What businesses should open next in Elmwood?
The top businesses to open next in Elmwood:
- Cafes: 79.4% Typical, 88.2% Best
- Convenience Stores: 78.8% Typical, 88.1% Best
- Hair Salons: 77.1% Typical, 86.9% Best
These rankings are based on the latest available data; check StreetSpring for real-time updates. StreetSpring measures competition through a 30-factor framework layered on top of proprietary consumer spending forecasts and mobility models. 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 Elmwood's 85.4% employment rate factored in, the businesses best positioned to succeed here are those that benefit from a well-employed, spending-capable local consumer base. StreetSpring regularly refreshes survivability scores to reflect new competition and updated spending data: see which locations in Elmwood are available right now and how they rank.
See the Survivability Score for your new business
Related Articles:
- See the Philadelphia Business Survivability Rankings
- See the Philadelphia Neighborhood Survivability Rankings
- Explore Cafe survivability across Philadelphia neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Elmwood.
What type of business should you rent your Elmwood storefront to?
If you own commercial space in Elmwood, StreetSpring's 2026 data points to Cafes, Convenience Stores, and Hair Salons as the tenant types with the strongest projected longevity at this location.
- Survivability data lets you compare locations on the same projected two-year chance before you open.
- Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for 500+ business types at any given storefront. Rather than guessing which tenant type will last, landlords can verify survivability for each category at their exact address using StreetSpring.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Philadelphia Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Elmwood storefront to a Cafe?
According to our 2026 survivability model, a Cafe leads all business categories for Elmwood landlords: 88.2% Best and 74.1% Worst.
- 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 Elmwood?
Location decisions in Elmwood should be grounded in Survivability Score data, not intuition. The score directly measures the competitive and spending conditions at your exact address.
- The Revenue Capture Score is the most important factor in choosing a location: it is StreetSpring's estimate of the revenue a business can capture at that address.
- These predictions are generated by StreetSpring's proprietary machine learning system, validated against hundreds of thousands of real business outcomes.
- Check StreetSpring's current survivability data for any address in Elmwood, starting with a free 10-minute trial.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
StreetSpring analyzes millions of data points with AI to forecast business survivability. Aggregated survivability rankings for Philadelphia are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
Full dataset for Philadelphia: /resources/data/philadelphia-survivability-scores-2026.csv: includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.