Business Survivability in Wakefield, Washington DC
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Wakefield is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~85% 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 Wakefield (~85% average survival rate, ~87% at best locations)
- Neighborhood rank: #2 across all neighborhoods in and around Washington DC
- Neighborhood average: ~82% 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 Wakefield 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 Wakefield is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~85% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~87% chance; next is a Mexican Restaurant with a 82.61% chance, followed by a Diner with a 82.56% chance.
Is Wakefield a good place to start a business?
Wakefield holds the #2 position in and around Washington DC for new business survivability, averaging ~82% across all analyzed business types.
- Top-performing business types at the best addresses in Wakefield show a ~5% survival rate advantage over the neighborhood average.
- However, those high-scoring categories placed at the least-competitive addresses in Wakefield often fall well below average. Picking the right block — not just the right neighborhood — is what actually determines survivability.
- With a 90.0% employment rate, Wakefield has the consumer spending foundation that supports a range of brick-and-mortar business types.
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 Wakefield?
StreetSpring's model evaluates every available address in Wakefield for your business type, ranking them by survivability so the best storefront is always identifiable. StreetSpring's 2026 model ranks this area #1 in Wakefield for a Veterinary Clinic:
The highlighted area represents the address in Wakefield that StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks highest for a Veterinary Clinic survivability. Even the best-ranked neighborhoods contain locations that underperform — and the worst-ranked ones have hidden gems. StreetSpring's scoring incorporates hundreds of inputs, including competitive quality and density, projected consumer spending, Revenue Capture Score, and local demand patterns.
Check if this location is still available →
What are the best businesses to open in Wakefield?
| # | Business type | Chance of lasting two or more years |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Veterinary Clinic | 85.27% |
| 2 | Mexican Restaurant | 82.61% |
| 3 | Diner | 82.56% |
| 4 | Salad Shop | 82.35% |
| 5 | Smoke Shop | 79.39% |
| 6 | Dance Club | 79.37% |
| 7 | Pet Boarding Facility | 78.80% |
| 8 | Convenience Store | 78.37% |
| 9 | Pet Grooming Shop | 77.97% |
| 10 | Liquor Store | 77.77% |
#1-5: Highest Survivability in Wakefield
- Veterinary Clinic — ~83%–~87% survivability range, with an average of 85.27% across Wakefield.
- Opening a Mexican Restaurant in Wakefield shows 82.61% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~79%.
- Diner (Ranked #3): 82.56% average in Wakefield. Best-case storefronts: ~84%. Challenging locations: ~78%.
- Salad Shop is ranked #4 for top businesses to open in Wakefield: 82.35% chance on average, best at ~85%, challenging at ~74%.
- Smoke Shop — ~74%–~82% survivability range, with an average of 79.39% across Wakefield.
#6-10: Strong Performers in Wakefield
- Opening a Dance Club in Wakefield shows 79.37% average survivability. Top locations reach ~81%; lower-end sites show ~73%.
- Pet Boarding Facility (Ranked #7): 78.80% average in Wakefield. Best-case storefronts: ~81%. Challenging locations: ~72%.
- Convenience Store is ranked #8 for top businesses to open in Wakefield: 78.37% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~72%.
- Pet Grooming Shop — ~72%–~80% survivability range, with an average of 77.97% across Wakefield.
- Opening a Liquor Store in Wakefield shows 77.77% average survivability. Top locations reach ~81%; lower-end sites show ~75%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Veterinary Clinic — See how this compares to other cities →
- Mexican Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →
- Diner — See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Wakefield make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, going with one of the top-scoring locations in the neighborhood rather than an average one in Wakefield could lead to you making ~5% more than if you selected an average location, and ~12% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.
How StreetSpring calculates location value
- Location fit is business-type-specific: a spot that's ideal for a coffee shop may underperform for a nail salon at the same address.
- The address you choose determines your competitive exposure, customer flow, and spending potential simultaneously.
- StreetSpring's analysis shows that businesses in top-scoring locations generate meaningfully more revenue and stay open longer than those in average locations.
- 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 Wakefield?
The top businesses to open next in Wakefield:
- Veterinary Clinics — 85.27% average survival rate, ~87% at the best address
- Mexican Restaurants — 82.61% average survival rate
- Diners — 82.56% average survival rate
Even the best-ranked neighborhoods contain locations that underperform — and the worst-ranked ones have hidden gems. 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. Wakefield's employment rate (90.0%) and vacancy rate (8.2%) together define the economic context that StreetSpring's model uses to score survivability for each business type at each address. Because market conditions shift constantly, StreetSpring updates every location's survivability score weekly — you can see current scores for available storefronts in Wakefield 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 Veterinary Clinic survivability across Washington DC neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Wakefield.
What type of business should you rent your Wakefield storefront to?
For landlords in Wakefield, StreetSpring's 2026 analysis identifies Veterinary Clinics, Mexican Restaurants, and Diners as the business types most likely to produce stable, long-term tenancy.
- The address you choose determines your competitive exposure, customer flow, and spending potential simultaneously.
- Every survivability score StreetSpring produces is specific to the exact address and business type — not averaged across a zip code or neighborhood. StreetSpring allows property owners to evaluate any address against 500+ business types — so you can prioritize the categories that score highest at your specific location.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Washington DC Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Wakefield storefront to a Veterinary Clinic?
The data shows a Veterinary Clinic is the safest long-term bet for a Wakefield storefront. Top locations reach ~87% survivability; the least favorable addresses in this neighborhood score around ~83%.
- 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 Wakefield?
Location decisions in Wakefield should be grounded in Survivability Score data, not intuition. The score directly measures the competitive and spending conditions at your exact address.
- The Revenue Capture Score at a specific address explains more about likely business success than any other available metric.
- These predictions are generated by StreetSpring's proprietary machine learning system, validated against hundreds of thousands of real business outcomes.
- StreetSpring is free to use — see the current survivability score for any address in Wakefield right now.
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.