Business Survivability in Foggy Bottom, Washington DC
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Foggy Bottom is a Cafe with a 85.2% 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 Foggy Bottom (85.2% Typical, 89.6% Best)
- Neighborhood rank: #68 of 129 neighborhoods in and around Washington DC
- Neighborhood average: 68.6% 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 Foggy Bottom 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 Foggy Bottom is a Cafe with a 85.2% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, and 89.6% Best; next is a Convenience Store with 89.3% Best, followed by a Laundromat with 89.3% Best.
Is Foggy Bottom a good place to start a business?
Among the 129 neighborhoods StreetSpring ranks in and around Washington DC, Foggy Bottom ranks #68 for business survivability, with an average 68.6% chance of lasting two or more years.
- For the top-ranked business type, 89.6% Best is 4.4 points above 85.2% Typical in Foggy Bottom.
- But at poorly chosen addresses within Foggy Bottom, even the top-ranked business types can fall well below the neighborhood average. Location selection remains critical: a promising concept at the wrong spot still carries significant risk.
- A 92.1% employment rate in Foggy Bottom means a large share of local consumers have steady income: a strong underlying condition for discretionary spending businesses.
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 Foggy Bottom?
StreetSpring's Foggy Bottom data goes block by block (not just neighborhood averages) so you know which specific storefront gives your concept the strongest foundation. Below is the best location for a Cafe in Foggy Bottom:
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis of hundreds of location-specific factors, this area offers the highest projected survivability for a Cafe in Foggy Bottom. However, individual locations vary widely, and even in lower-scoring neighborhoods there are pockets that perform exceptionally well. 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 Foggy Bottom?
| Rank | Business type | Best | Typical | Worst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cafe | 89.6% | 85.2% | 80.5% |
| 2 | Convenience Store | 89.3% | 82.7% | 77.5% |
| 3 | Laundromat | 89.3% | 84.0% | 78.6% |
| 4 | Chiropractor Office | 85.4% | 78.5% | 71.7% |
| 5 | Gym | 85.0% | 75.3% | 68.7% |
| 6 | Coffee Shop | 84.3% | 75.1% | 68.7% |
| 7 | Eye Care Center | 83.3% | 78.0% | 72.7% |
| 8 | Bar | 82.8% | 73.2% | 65.8% |
| 10 | Dentist Office | 78.4% | 72.3% | 66.1% |
| 15 | Spa | 78.2% | 70.2% | 62.2% |
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 Foggy Bottom
- #1 Opening a Cafe in Foggy Bottom shows 85.2% Typical survivability, 89.6% Best and 80.5% Worst.
- #2 Convenience Store (Ranked #2): 82.7% Typical in Foggy Bottom. Best: 89.3%. Worst: 77.5%.
- #3 Laundromat is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Foggy Bottom: 84.0% Typical, 89.3% Best, 78.6% Worst.
- #4 Chiropractor Office: 78.5% Typical across Foggy Bottom; Best 85.4%, Worst 71.7%.
- #5 Opening a Gym in Foggy Bottom shows 75.3% Typical survivability, 85.0% Best and 68.7% Worst.
Strong Performers in Foggy Bottom
- #6 Coffee Shop (Ranked #6): 75.1% Typical in Foggy Bottom. Best: 84.3%. Worst: 68.7%.
- #7 Eye Care Center is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Foggy Bottom: 78.0% Typical, 83.3% Best, 72.7% Worst.
- #8 Bar: 73.2% Typical across Foggy Bottom; Best 82.8%, Worst 65.8%.
- #10 Opening a Dentist Office in Foggy Bottom shows 72.3% Typical survivability, 78.4% Best and 66.1% Worst.
- #15 Spa (Ranked #15): 70.2% Typical in Foggy Bottom. Best: 78.2%. Worst: 62.2%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Cafe: See how this compares to other cities →
- Convenience Store: See how this compares to other cities →
- Laundromat: See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Foggy Bottom make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, prioritizing survivability score in your site-selection process in Foggy Bottom 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
- The right address for one business type may be the wrong one for another: always evaluate fit for your specific concept.
- Location is the part of survivability you can measure in advance: the concept, the pricing and the operator are yours to judge.
- 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.
- StreetSpring's address-level precision means two storefronts on the same block can carry materially different odds of lasting two years.
What businesses should open next in Foggy Bottom?
The top businesses to open next in Foggy Bottom:
- Cafes: 85.2% Typical, 89.6% Best
- Convenience Stores: 82.7% Typical, 89.3% Best
- Laundromats: 84.0% Typical, 89.3% Best
However, individual locations vary widely, and even in lower-scoring neighborhoods there are pockets that perform exceptionally well. 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. Foggy Bottom sits at 92.1% employment and 15.8% housing vacancy in Census data, context the model reads alongside competition and consumer spending. New competitors open and close every week, changing the survivability landscape for every address in Foggy Bottom. StreetSpring's regular 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 Washington DC Business Survivability Rankings
- See the Washington DC Neighborhood Survivability Rankings
- Explore Cafe survivability across Washington DC neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Foggy Bottom.
What type of business should you rent your Foggy Bottom storefront to?
According to StreetSpring's 2026 data, the strongest tenant types for a storefront in Foggy Bottom are Cafes, Convenience Stores, and Laundromats.
- Location is the part of survivability you can measure in advance: the concept, the pricing and the operator are yours to judge.
- StreetSpring's address-level precision means two storefronts on the same block can carry materially different odds of lasting two years. Run your specific address through StreetSpring to see which tenant categories give you the best odds of stable, long-term occupancy.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Washington DC Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Foggy Bottom storefront to a Cafe?
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, a Cafe ranks as the top tenant type for your Foggy Bottom storefront: 89.6% Best and 80.5% Worst.
- StreetSpring's address-level precision means two storefronts on the same block can carry materially different odds of lasting two years.
What should I consider when opening a business in Foggy Bottom?
Before committing to any location in Foggy Bottom, 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.
- Each forecast is specific to the exact address and business type, generated by StreetSpring's internally developed prediction engine.
- The most current survivability data for Foggy Bottom is on StreetSpring, and a free 10-minute trial is enough to check your specific address.
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 Washington DC are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
Full dataset for Washington DC: /resources/data/washington-dc-survivability-scores-2026.csv: includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.