Business Survivability in Portola, San Francisco
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Portola is a Hair Salon with a 74.5% 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 Hair Salon in Portola (74.5% Typical, 82.4% Best)
- Neighborhood rank: #45 of 107 neighborhoods in and around San Francisco
- Neighborhood average: 68.7% 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 Portola 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 Portola is a Hair Salon with a 74.5% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, and 82.4% Best; next is a Chiropractor Office with 82.4% Best, followed by a Spa with 81.5% Best.
Is Portola a good place to start a business?
Portola holds the #45 position of 107 neighborhoods in and around San Francisco for new business survivability, with an average score of 68.7% across the business types ranked there.
- For the top-ranked business type, 82.4% Best is 7.9 points above 74.5% Typical in Portola.
- However, those same business types at the weakest addresses in Portola can score considerably below average. Even the most in-demand concept in Portola will struggle if it opens at the wrong address.
- With 93.1% of the local population employed, Portola presents a stable consumer base: particularly for food, beverage, and service businesses that depend on repeat discretionary spending.
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 Portola?
Rather than relying on neighborhood averages, StreetSpring's scoring tells you which specific addresses in Portola give your concept the best odds of survival. The location below represents the address in Portola with the highest projected survivability for a Hair Salon:
According to StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, this circle outlines the best area for a Hair Salon in Portola. Neighborhood-level averages are a starting point: the exact address will determine your actual survivability score. 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 Portola?
| Rank | Business type | Best | Typical | Worst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hair Salon | 82.4% | 74.5% | 68.5% |
| 2 | Chiropractor Office | 82.4% | 77.2% | 72.1% |
| 3 | Spa | 81.5% | 74.2% | 68.4% |
| 4 | Gym | 81.4% | 74.8% | 69.8% |
| 5 | Cafe | 81.4% | 74.4% | 69.0% |
| 6 | Coffee Shop | 81.2% | 74.3% | 68.8% |
| 7 | Veterinary Clinic | 81.1% | 75.1% | 69.1% |
| 8 | International Grocery Store | 80.6% | 73.3% | 66.7% |
| 9 | Eye Care Center | 80.3% | 73.4% | 66.4% |
| 10 | Convenience Store | 80.0% | 71.5% | 63.4% |
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.
Ties on Best: Gym and Cafe are tied. A tie is a tie: the rank column is the published file's order, which looks at Typical next.
Highest Survivability in Portola
- #1 Hair Salon: 74.5% Typical across Portola; Best 82.4%, Worst 68.5%.
- #2 Opening a Chiropractor Office in Portola shows 77.2% Typical survivability, 82.4% Best and 72.1% Worst.
- #3 Spa (Ranked #3): 74.2% Typical in Portola. Best: 81.5%. Worst: 68.4%.
- #4 Gym is ranked #4 for top businesses to open in Portola: 74.8% Typical, 81.4% Best, 69.8% Worst.
- #5 Cafe: 74.4% Typical across Portola; Best 81.4%, Worst 69.0%.
Strong Performers in Portola
- #6 Opening a Coffee Shop in Portola shows 74.3% Typical survivability, 81.2% Best and 68.8% Worst.
- #7 Veterinary Clinic (Ranked #7): 75.1% Typical in Portola. Best: 81.1%. Worst: 69.1%.
- #8 International Grocery Store is ranked #8 for top businesses to open in Portola: 73.3% Typical, 80.6% Best, 66.7% Worst.
- #9 Eye Care Center: 73.4% Typical across Portola; Best 80.3%, Worst 66.4%.
- #10 Opening a Convenience Store in Portola shows 71.5% Typical survivability, 80.0% Best and 63.4% Worst.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Hair Salon: See how this compares to other cities →
- Chiropractor Office: See how this compares to other cities →
- Spa: See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Portola make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, prioritizing survivability score in your site-selection process in Portola 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
- No two business types have identical location needs; survivability scores reflect these differences at the address level.
- Every site-selection decision starts with location, the one factor you can check before you sign a lease.
- 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 Portola?
The top businesses to open next in Portola:
- Hair Salons: 74.5% Typical, 82.4% Best
- Chiropractor Offices: 77.2% Typical, 82.4% Best
- Spas: 74.2% Typical, 81.5% Best
Neighborhood-level averages are a starting point: the exact address will determine your actual survivability score. StreetSpring's accuracy is built on studying businesses that serve more than 180 million+ Americans across 24 cities. 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 Portola's 93.1% 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 regularly recalculates survivability for every location in Portola, incorporating the latest competitive openings, closures, and spending data: check current locations now.
See the Survivability Score for your new business
Related Articles:
- See the San Francisco Business Survivability Rankings
- See the San Francisco Neighborhood Survivability Rankings
- Explore Hair Salon survivability across San Francisco neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Portola.
What type of business should you rent your Portola storefront to?
According to StreetSpring's 2026 data, the strongest tenant types for a storefront in Portola are Hair Salons, Chiropractor Offices, and Spas.
- Every site-selection decision starts with location, the one factor you can check before you sign a lease.
- Every survivability score StreetSpring produces is specific to the exact address and business type, not averaged across a zip code or neighborhood. Use StreetSpring to see the survivability score for any business type at your exact storefront address before you sign a lease.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in San Francisco Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Portola storefront to a Hair Salon?
Yes, our 2026 model ranks a Hair Salon first among business types for Portola storefronts, with 82.4% Best and 68.5% 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 Portola?
Before committing to any location in Portola, the highest-priority metric to check is the Survivability Score: it encodes every relevant location factor into a single, actionable number.
- StreetSpring's proprietary Revenue Capture Score, the revenue a business can capture at a specific address, is the factor that matters most when choosing where to open.
- No third-party scoring system produces these results: every prediction is generated by StreetSpring's own analytical models.
- StreetSpring offers a free 10-minute trial of its survivability scores: see how your shortlisted Portola addresses rank right now.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
Using predictive analytics, StreetSpring helps entrepreneurs and landlords make smarter location decisions. Aggregated survivability rankings for San Francisco are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
Full dataset for San Francisco: /resources/data/san-francisco-survivability-scores-2026.csv: includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.