Business Survivability in NoMa, Washington DC
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in NoMa is a Convenience Store with a 85.9% 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 Convenience Store in NoMa (85.9% Typical, 90.5% Best)
- Neighborhood rank: #12 of 129 neighborhoods in and around Washington DC
- Neighborhood average: 81.6% 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 NoMa 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 NoMa is a Convenience Store with a 85.9% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, and 90.5% Best; next is a Chiropractor Office with 90.3% Best, followed by a Cafe with 90.0% Best.
Is NoMa a good place to start a business?
StreetSpring ranks NoMa #12 of 129 neighborhoods in and around Washington DC, with an average Survivability Score of 81.6% across the business types ranked there.
- For the top-ranked business type, 90.5% Best is 4.6 points above 85.9% Typical in NoMa.
- That said, the same business types at the worst-fit addresses in NoMa can drop substantially below average. The survivability gap between the best and worst addresses in a single neighborhood can be 20 points or more.
- NoMa's employment rate of 97.6% and housing vacancy rate of 6.6% are two of the Census inputs StreetSpring's model reads for this neighborhood.
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 NoMa?
The right address in NoMa can mean a 20-point survivability difference from an average one: StreetSpring identifies exactly which addresses are worth pursuing. This is the address StreetSpring's 2026 analysis recommends most strongly for a Convenience Store in NoMa:
This map shows the optimal location for a Convenience Store in NoMa based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. These rankings are based on the latest available data; check StreetSpring for real-time updates. 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 NoMa?
| Rank | Business type | Best | Typical | Worst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Convenience Store | 90.5% | 85.9% | 80.8% |
| 2 | Chiropractor Office | 90.3% | 88.3% | 86.3% |
| 3 | Cafe | 90.0% | 87.6% | 84.4% |
| 4 | Veterinary Clinic | 90.0% | 86.9% | 83.9% |
| 5 | Coffee Shop | 89.4% | 83.7% | 77.9% |
| 6 | Laundromat | 89.2% | 84.3% | 79.2% |
| 7 | Smoke Shop | 89.2% | 83.3% | 78.2% |
| 8 | International Grocery Store | 89.1% | 83.7% | 78.7% |
| 9 | Gym | 89.1% | 83.3% | 77.8% |
| 10 | Boutique | 89.0% | 83.3% | 78.3% |
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: Laundromat and Smoke Shop are tied. A tie is a tie: the rank column is the published file's order, which looks at Typical next.
Highest Survivability in NoMa
- #1 Convenience Store (Ranked #1): 85.9% Typical in NoMa. Best: 90.5%. Worst: 80.8%.
- #2 Chiropractor Office is ranked #2 for top businesses to open in NoMa: 88.3% Typical, 90.3% Best, 86.3% Worst.
- #3 Cafe: 87.6% Typical across NoMa; Best 90.0%, Worst 84.4%.
- #4 Opening a Veterinary Clinic in NoMa shows 86.9% Typical survivability, 90.0% Best and 83.9% Worst.
- #5 Coffee Shop (Ranked #5): 83.7% Typical in NoMa. Best: 89.4%. Worst: 77.9%.
Strong Performers in NoMa
- #6 Laundromat is ranked #6 for top businesses to open in NoMa: 84.3% Typical, 89.2% Best, 79.2% Worst.
- #7 Smoke Shop: 83.3% Typical across NoMa; Best 89.2%, Worst 78.2%.
- #8 Opening an International Grocery Store in NoMa shows 83.7% Typical survivability, 89.1% Best and 78.7% Worst.
- #9 Gym (Ranked #9): 83.3% Typical in NoMa. Best: 89.1%. Worst: 77.8%.
- #10 Boutique is ranked #10 for top businesses to open in NoMa: 83.3% Typical, 89.0% Best, 78.3% Worst.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Convenience Store: See how this compares to other cities →
- Chiropractor Office: See how this compares to other cities →
- Cafe: See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in NoMa make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting a storefront that StreetSpring ranks in the top tier for your business type in NoMa 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
- 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.
- Location is one of the few things about a new business you can measure before it opens.
- Compare the Revenue Capture Score of each shortlisted address first: it is the top factor in choosing a location, and it estimates the revenue a business can capture there.
- StreetSpring scores blocks across each neighborhood and city so you can compare a business's two-year chance between them.
What businesses should open next in NoMa?
The top businesses to open next in NoMa:
- Convenience Stores: 85.9% Typical, 90.5% Best
- Chiropractor Offices: 88.3% Typical, 90.3% Best
- Cafes: 87.6% Typical, 90.0% 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. The 97.6% employment rate in NoMa is a key signal of consumer health, and the 6.6% housing vacancy rate is another Census characteristic the model reads for the rankings above. Survivability scores are live, not static: StreetSpring updates them regularly. Visit the tool to see what's currently available in NoMa and how each address is scoring right now.
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 Convenience Store survivability across Washington DC neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in NoMa.
What type of business should you rent your NoMa storefront to?
Our 2026 survivability data for NoMa shows that Convenience Stores, Chiropractor Offices, and Cafes rank as the top tenant categories for minimizing vacancy risk.
- Location is one of the few things about a new business you can measure before it opens.
- StreetSpring scores blocks across each neighborhood and city so you can compare a business's two-year chance between them. StreetSpring's tool, free for a 10-minute trial, lets you check the survivability score for any business type at any address in NoMa: a powerful filter when evaluating prospective tenants.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Washington DC Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your NoMa storefront to a Convenience Store?
StreetSpring's data confirms a Convenience Store as the highest-ranked tenant type for NoMa, at 90.5% Best and 80.8% Worst for the chance of lasting more than 2 years.
- StreetSpring scores blocks across each neighborhood and city so you can compare a business's two-year chance between them.
What should I consider when opening a business in NoMa?
When opening a business in NoMa, compare the Survivability Scores of your shortlisted addresses and favor the highest one your budget allows.
- 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.
- StreetSpring's in-house models are trained on 570,000+ real business outcomes.
- You can check the Survivability Score for any storefront in NoMa with a free 10-minute trial of StreetSpring's live tool.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
Our analysis covers businesses serving more than 180 million+ Americans across 24 major US metros. 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.