Business Survivability in Lakewood, Seattle
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Lakewood is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~83% 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 Lakewood (~83% average survival rate, ~90% at best locations)
- Neighborhood rank: #2 across all neighborhoods in and around Seattle
- Neighborhood average: ~78% 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 Lakewood 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 Lakewood is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~83% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~90% chance; next is a Thai Restaurant with a 79.59% chance, followed by an Eastern European Restaurant with a 79.06% chance.
Is Lakewood a good place to start a business?
Among all neighborhoods in and around Seattle, Lakewood ranks #2 for business survivability, with an average ~78% chance of lasting two or more years.
- The most promising business types in the best locations score a ~22% higher chance of surviving 2 years than the average.
- However, those same business types at the weakest addresses in Lakewood can score considerably below average. Even the most in-demand concept in Lakewood will struggle if it opens at the wrong address.
- With 96.7% of the local population employed, Lakewood presents a stable consumer base — particularly for food, beverage, and service businesses that depend on repeat discretionary spending.
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 Lakewood?
StreetSpring's address-level analysis reveals which specific storefronts in Lakewood offer the strongest survivability odds for your business type. The map below shows the highest-scoring storefront area for a Veterinary Clinic in Lakewood per 2026 data:
This map shows the optimal location for a Veterinary Clinic in Lakewood 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 Lakewood?
| # | Business type | Chance of lasting two or more years |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Veterinary Clinic | 83.24% |
| 2 | Thai Restaurant | 79.59% |
| 3 | Eastern European Restaurant | 79.06% |
| 4 | French Restaurant | 78.94% |
| 5 | Smoke Shop | 76.24% |
| 6 | Day Care Center | 75.53% |
| 7 | Pet Boarding Facility | 75.50% |
| 8 | Pet Grooming Shop | 75.07% |
| 9 | Coffee Shop | 74.94% |
| 10 | Grocery Store | 74.65% |
#1-5: Highest Survivability in Lakewood
- Veterinary Clinic (Ranked #1): 83.24% average in Lakewood. Best-case storefronts: ~90%. Challenging locations: ~76%.
- Thai Restaurant is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in Lakewood: 79.59% chance on average, best at ~84%, challenging at ~74%.
- Eastern European Restaurant — ~74%–~84% survivability range, with an average of 79.06% across Lakewood.
- Opening a French Restaurant in Lakewood shows 78.94% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~73%.
- Smoke Shop (Ranked #5): 76.24% average in Lakewood. Best-case storefronts: ~85%. Challenging locations: ~68%.
#6-10: Strong Performers in Lakewood
- Day Care Center is ranked #6 for top businesses to open in Lakewood: 75.53% chance on average, best at ~84%, challenging at ~68%.
- Pet Boarding Facility — ~68%–~83% survivability range, with an average of 75.50% across Lakewood.
- Opening a Pet Grooming Shop in Lakewood shows 75.07% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~67%.
- Coffee Shop (Ranked #9): 74.94% average in Lakewood. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~67%.
- Grocery Store is ranked #10 for top businesses to open in Lakewood: 74.65% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~67%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Veterinary Clinic — See how this compares to other cities →
- Thai Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →
- Eastern European Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Lakewood make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, securing a location with maximum Revenue Capture potential in Lakewood could lead to you making ~22% more than if you selected an average location, and ~52% 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.
- The businesses that outperform their category averages most consistently are those that scored highest on survivability before opening.
- 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 Lakewood?
The top businesses to open next in Lakewood:
- Veterinary Clinics — 83.24% average survival rate, ~90% at the best address
- Thai Restaurants — 79.59% average survival rate
- Eastern European Restaurants — 79.06% 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. The model draws from 100+ location-specific factors to generate each survivability score. 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 Lakewood's 96.7% 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 refreshes survivability scores every week to reflect new competition and updated spending data — see which locations in Lakewood are available right now and how they rank.
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 Lakewood.
What type of business should you rent your Lakewood storefront to?
Based on 2026 survivability scores across all business types in Lakewood, the top three tenant categories for landlords are Veterinary Clinics, Thai Restaurants, and Eastern European Restaurants.
- Nothing influences a business's future more than its location.
- Every survivability score StreetSpring produces is specific to the exact address and business type — not averaged across a zip code or neighborhood. Landlords can use StreetSpring to match their exact address to the tenant types most likely to stay open and paying rent for two or more years.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Seattle Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Lakewood storefront to a Veterinary Clinic?
StreetSpring's data confirms a Veterinary Clinic as the highest-survivability tenant type for Lakewood. The best addresses show a ~90% chance of lasting more than 2 years; less optimal addresses score around ~76%.
- 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 Lakewood?
In Lakewood, the single most important factor in your site-selection decision is the Survivability Score of the specific address you're evaluating.
- Where survivability is highest, Revenue Capture Score is invariably strong — the two are tightly correlated across every business type we've analyzed.
- These predictions are generated by StreetSpring's proprietary machine learning system, validated against hundreds of thousands of real business outcomes.
- You can access the most up-to-date forecasts with StreetSpring for free.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
StreetSpring combines proprietary data with advanced analytics to predict which businesses will succeed. 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.