Business Survivability in Ballard, Seattle
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Ballard is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~84% 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 Veterinary Clinic in Ballard (~84% average survival rate, ~85% at best locations)
- Neighborhood rank: #7 across all neighborhoods in and around Seattle
- 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
- Is Ballard 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 Ballard is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~84% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~85% chance; next is a Dance Club with a 80.40% chance, followed by a Chicken Shop with a 80.35% chance.
Is Ballard a good place to start a business?
In Seattle's neighborhood survivability rankings, Ballard comes in at #7, with an average Survivability Score of ~79% across all business types.
- StreetSpring data shows the best-fit business types at prime Ballard addresses outperform the neighborhood average by ~3%.
- However, those high-scoring categories placed at the least-competitive addresses in Ballard often fall well below average. Picking the right block — not just the right neighborhood — is what actually determines survivability.
- Ballard's 6.7% commercial vacancy rate signals the current availability of storefronts and shapes the competitive environment that survivability scores reflect.
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 Ballard?
StreetSpring's model evaluates every available address in Ballard for your business type, ranking them by survivability so the best storefront is always identifiable. The map below shows the highest-scoring storefront area for a Veterinary Clinic in Ballard per 2026 data:
This map shows the optimal location for a Veterinary Clinic in Ballard based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. StreetSpring's survivability scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool. 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 Ballard?
| # | Business type | Chance of lasting two or more years |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Veterinary Clinic | 84.16% |
| 2 | Dance Club | 80.40% |
| 3 | Chicken Shop | 80.35% |
| 4 | Steakhouse | 79.30% |
| 5 | Mexican Restaurant | 79.19% |
| 6 | Grocery Store | 79.00% |
| 7 | Liquor Store | 78.28% |
| 8 | Seafood Restaurant | 78.04% |
| 9 | Coffee Shop | 77.62% |
| 10 | Gym | 76.49% |
#1-5: Highest Survivability in Ballard
- Veterinary Clinic (Ranked #1): 84.16% average in Ballard. Best-case storefronts: ~85%. Challenging locations: ~81%.
- Dance Club is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in Ballard: 80.40% chance on average, best at ~82%, challenging at ~77%.
- Chicken Shop — ~78%–~82% survivability range, with an average of 80.35% across Ballard.
- Opening a Steakhouse in Ballard shows 79.30% average survivability. Top locations reach ~82%; lower-end sites show ~76%.
- Mexican Restaurant (Ranked #5): 79.19% average in Ballard. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~77%.
#6-10: Strong Performers in Ballard
- Grocery Store is ranked #6 for top businesses to open in Ballard: 79.00% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~76%.
- Liquor Store — ~76%–~81% survivability range, with an average of 78.28% across Ballard.
- Opening a Seafood Restaurant in Ballard shows 78.04% average survivability. Top locations reach ~82%; lower-end sites show ~75%.
- Coffee Shop (Ranked #9): 77.62% average in Ballard. Best-case storefronts: ~80%. Challenging locations: ~75%.
- Gym is ranked #10 for top businesses to open in Ballard: 76.49% chance on average, best at ~80%, challenging at ~74%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Veterinary Clinic — See how this compares to other cities →
- Dance Club — See how this compares to other cities →
- Chicken Shop — See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Ballard make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, choosing an address that maximizes your Revenue Capture Score in Ballard could lead to you making ~3% more than if you selected an average location, and ~16% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.
How StreetSpring calculates location value
- StreetSpring calculates survivability for each business type separately at each address — so the best location for your concept may differ from the neighborhood's overall top-ranked site.
- Nothing influences a business's future more than its location.
- Businesses in high-scoring locations consistently outperform those in average or low-scoring sites.
- Our address-level scoring shows the exact survivability odds for 500+ business types at any given storefront.
What businesses should open next in Ballard?
The top businesses to open next in Ballard:
- Veterinary Clinics — 84.16% average survival rate, ~85% at the best address
- Dance Clubs — 80.40% average survival rate
- Chicken Shops — 80.35% 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. Every prediction draws on a dataset of millions of business openings, closures, and lifecycle events across the U.S. 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. The 6.7% commercial vacancy rate in Ballard means there is available space for new entrants — but it also signals that survivability depends heavily on choosing the right address within the neighborhood, not just the neighborhood itself. New competitors open and close every week, changing the survivability landscape for every address in Ballard. StreetSpring's weekly updates mean you can always see the current score for any available storefront.
See the Survivability Score for your new business
Related Articles:
- See the Seattle Business Survivability Rankings
- See the Seattle Neighborhood Survivability Rankings
- Explore Veterinary Clinic survivability across Seattle neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Ballard.
What type of business should you rent your Ballard storefront to?
Our 2026 survivability data for Ballard shows that Veterinary Clinics, Dance Clubs, and Chicken Shops rank as the top tenant categories for minimizing vacancy risk.
- Nothing influences a business's future more than its location.
- 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 Seattle Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Ballard storefront to a Veterinary Clinic?
StreetSpring's data confirms a Veterinary Clinic as the highest-survivability tenant type for Ballard. The best addresses show a ~85% chance of lasting more than 2 years; less optimal addresses score around ~81%.
- 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 Ballard?
Location decisions in Ballard should be grounded in Survivability Score data, not intuition. The score directly measures the competitive and spending conditions at your exact address.
- Revenue Capture is where competition meets spending — and it's the number that matters most when choosing a location.
- Each forecast is specific to the exact address and business type, generated by StreetSpring's internally developed prediction engine.
- You can access the most up-to-date forecasts with StreetSpring for free.
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 Seattle are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
Full dataset for Seattle: /resources/data/seattle-survivability-scores-2026.csv — includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.