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Check infrastructure at the proposed building—not at the city level—before deciding that a smaller city will work for your startup. Verify address-level broadband, power and water capacity, site readiness, role-specific talent within a practical commute, transport connections, usable property, employee-support services, resilience, and the full cost of moving and operating there. A city’s reputation or average rent cannot answer those questions.
The framework below is written with U.S. examples because the most specific public tools cited are U.S. programs. Founders elsewhere should use their national or regional broadband, utility, transport, workforce, and planning agencies for equivalent checks.
Start with the startup’s dependencies, not a city shortlist
Write down what must be true for the business to operate on its first day in the new location. A remote-first software company may weight redundant connectivity and hiring more heavily than freight access. A laboratory, food operation, healthcare service, or manufacturer may depend on utility capacity, permits, waste handling, loading access, and expansion space. A company whose staff or customers travel frequently may give commercial-airport access a high weight.
Turn those dependencies into pass/fail requirements and weighted comparison criteria. This prevents a low lease price or an attractive downtown from overshadowing a requirement that can stop operations.
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How to check broadband at a business address
Use the FCC map as a starting inventory
In the United States, search each proposed office or facility in the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map. The map uses provider-submitted records for fixed locations, including small businesses, and reports the technologies and maximum advertised download and upload speeds providers say are available.
Those records are leads, not guarantees. The FCC Broadband Data Collection Help Center states: “The National Broadband Map shows internet availability, not network performance, affordability, or adoption.” The map does not prove that the service performs at the advertised rate, that the price fits the budget, or that an installation is technically or economically feasible.
Record comparable evidence for every site
- Save the listed providers and the access technology at the exact address.
- Record the reported maximum advertised download and upload speeds.
- Note whether the listing appears to cover the correct suite, parcel, or building entrance.
- Ask whether the provider offers business service at that location rather than only a residential product.
If a listing appears wrong, the FCC process allows an availability challenge. Treat a challenge as a correction route, not as proof that service will be installed on your schedule.
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Confirm installation and performance directly
Contact each candidate provider and request written answers about installation lead time, construction or extension charges, contract term, recurring price, upload capacity, latency expectations, repair process, and any service-level commitment your application requires. Ask who pays if a new fiber run, pole work, conduit, or internal building work is needed. A map cannot answer those questions.
Test the premises when possible. A temporary connection or an on-site test can reveal in-building wiring, congestion, latency, packet loss, and upload limitations that a maximum advertised speed conceals. Test during the hours when the team will actually work and from the rooms where critical equipment will sit.
Design a connectivity failure plan
Decide what happens when the primary circuit fails. Depending on the operation, a second wired provider, fixed wireless, or cellular backup may be appropriate. Confirm that the backup uses a genuinely separate path; two services that share the same building entry or local network can fail together.
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The FCC mobile map is an outdoor or in-vehicle coverage view. It does not establish indoor signal at a particular office. Walk the actual workspace with the intended carrier or a test device, including server rooms, conference rooms, and any areas where staff need voice or data service.
Verify power, water, sewer, and site readiness
Power capacity and continuity
Ask the landlord, electric utility, and local economic-development office about available capacity at the parcel, voltage and phase options, historical outage patterns, restoration expectations, connection or upgrade costs, and the time required for new service. Obtain the answers for the specific building, not a neighborhood average.
Match continuity measures to the business. A software office may need protected networking and controlled shutdowns; a laboratory or production line may require generators, battery systems, conditioned power, or redundant feeds. Confirm who owns, maintains, tests, and fuels backup equipment, and whether the building’s electrical design can support your planned load.
Water, sewer, and process utilities
Water and sewer are foundational regional infrastructure, but the required specification depends on the operation. A lab, food business, healthcare service, or manufacturer may need higher flow, treatment capacity, special discharge approval, temperature control, or dependable process water. Ask the utility and permitting authority about capacity, connection points, pretreatment rules, discharge limits, recurring charges, and upgrade lead times.
Building and parcel readiness
Before signing, verify zoning, permitted use, occupancy approvals, fire and life-safety requirements, loading and parking, accessibility, environmental conditions, roof and structural capacity, and the condition of electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and communications pathways. Confirm whether the property can expand when headcount or equipment grows.
Request a written schedule for permits, inspections, construction, utility activation, and move-in. A space that is inexpensive but unavailable for nine months may cost more than a ready building.
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Measure the workforce you can actually hire
Define roles and scarcity first
List the roles that are critical in the first 12 to 24 months, the skills each requires, the number of hires, work arrangements, salary bands, and acceptable time to fill. Separate roles that can remain remote from those that must be on site. “Technology workers” or “manufacturing workers” are too broad to support a location decision.
Build a realistic commute shed
Evaluate labor-force size, relevant skills, industry employment, and labor access within the commute employees will realistically accept. Measure travel time at shift start and end, not just straight-line distance. Include transit where it is usable, but do not assume a route exists because a map shows a nearby stop.
A smaller municipal population does not reveal whether you can recruit a specific engineer, technician, salesperson, operator, or manager. Speak with local employers, recruiters, colleges, training providers, and workforce organizations. Ask how many candidates typically appear, which skills are scarce, expected time to fill, and whether reskilling programs can support your plan.
Check the surrounding business ecosystem
Map customers, suppliers, contractors, investors, research partners, and industry associations. Regional economic-development guidance treats workforce and hard and soft infrastructure as connected economic capacity and emphasizes collaboration among public, private, educational, and community organizations. Identify which of those partners are actually reachable from the proposed site and what services they provide.
Evaluate buildings, occupancy terms, and expansion options
Compare available buildings rather than relying on a city’s average commercial rent. For each candidate, record usable area, condition, lease or purchase price, escalation clauses, deposits, tenant-improvement allowance, maintenance responsibilities, taxes, insurance, utilities, loading, parking, security, and the date the space can be occupied.
Price the work needed to make the building operational: cabling, electrical upgrades, ventilation, laboratory or production fit-out, furniture, permits, inspections, and moving. Confirm whether the landlord permits backup generators, rooftop equipment, antennas, signage, security controls, and future expansion.
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Check travel, freight, and everyday access
Customer and supplier travel
Calculate actual drive or transit times from the site to major customers, suppliers, hospitals, universities, and other essential destinations. If air travel matters, evaluate the commercial airport’s usable routes, schedule, ground-transfer time, and disruption alternatives. “Near an airport” does not establish frequent or convenient service.
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For a company that ships or receives goods, verify the relevant road, rail, port, and carrier services. Ask carriers about pickup frequency, cutoffs, surcharges, delivery reliability, weight or access restrictions, and the final connection from the freight facility to the building. Inspect turning radii, dock height, staging space, winter access where relevant, and security. A short map distance can still produce an expensive or unreliable route.
Local transportation for employees
Check commute options at the hours employees will travel. Review road bottlenecks, public-transit frequency, parking supply, walking safety, and seasonal conditions. Transportation is part of recruiting and retention when the labor shed extends beyond city limits.
Treat relocation support as operating infrastructure
If employees or candidates must move, assess housing supply and cost at the neighborhoods they can realistically use, not only a citywide median. Check healthcare availability and cost, schools where relevant, childcare, recreation, and social or cultural amenities that matter to the team.
Ask relocating staff what would make the move workable and convert answers into measurable checks: available units in the required price range, travel time to work, access to a preferred healthcare provider, or school enrollment timing. These factors affect hiring, retention, and the time required to staff the site.
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Plan for hazards and continuity
Ask local officials, utilities, landlords, and insurers about hazards relevant to the parcel, emergency access, evacuation or shelter procedures, utility resilience, and restoration priorities. Tie the questions to your operations: temperature-sensitive inventory, hazardous materials, data availability, employee safety, and the ability to work from another site.
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Document a continuity plan covering connectivity loss, power loss, building damage, transport disruption, and a temporary operating location. Regional planning frameworks support including resilience, but they do not provide a universal hazard ranking for an unnamed city. Obtain parcel-specific information and insurance terms.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Compare total cost over a meaningful planning horizon
Use a multi-year pro forma, as Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development recommends in its feasibility-analysis guidance. The objective is not the lowest headline rent; it is a site that supplies required resources with manageable risk at the lowest total cost.
| Cost category | What to include |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | Installation, construction charges, recurring circuits, backup links, equipment, testing, and outage mitigation. |
| Utilities and site | Capacity upgrades, deposits, backup power, water or sewer connections, permits, inspections, and specialized treatment. |
| People | Recruiting, relocation assistance, wage differences, training, travel for hiring, and expected vacancies while roles are filled. |
| Property | Rent or debt service, tenant improvements, furniture, security, maintenance, taxes, insurance, and expansion work. |
| Movement and access | Moving, customer and supplier travel, freight premiums, vehicles, parking, and airport or transit transfers. |
| Resilience and transition | Redundant services, backup facilities, continuity arrangements, temporary overlap of sites, and shutdown or reconfiguration costs. |
Model incentives only after confirming eligibility, duration, required investment, reporting obligations, and what happens when the incentive ends. Separate one-time transition costs from recurring operating costs so a temporary benefit does not hide a permanent disadvantage.
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Score each location using the same evidence request and weight categories according to operational dependency. Keep the underlying documents—provider confirmations, utility letters, property proposals, labor-market interviews, travel calculations, and hazard information—so a high score can be audited.
| Scorecard axis | Evidence to collect |
|---|---|
| Connectivity and redundancy | Address-level providers, technology, advertised speeds, written business-service terms, installation schedule, test results, and independent backup path. |
| Utilities and site readiness | Capacity, reliability, outage history, upgrade cost and lead time, zoning, permits, building condition, and expansion ability. |
| Role-specific hiring | Commute-shed labor supply, skills, relevant employers, hiring channels, training capacity, and time-to-fill expectations. |
| Property and occupancy | Usable buildings, all-in occupancy cost, improvement scope, lease terms, and move-in date. |
| Customer, supplier, and freight access | Measured travel times, carrier service, road, rail, port, airport, and transit frequency. |
| Employee feasibility | Housing, healthcare, schools where relevant, childcare, recreation, and cultural or social amenities. |
| Resilience | Parcel hazards, emergency access, utility continuity, insurance requirements, and recovery options. |
| Total cost | Multi-year recurring costs plus installation, build-out, hiring, travel, redundancy, and transition costs. |
Adjust the weights to the operating model
| Startup profile | Criteria likely to carry the most weight |
|---|---|
| Remote-first software company | Address-level broadband and backup, talent commute shed, housing and retention, reliable power, and customer travel. |
| Laboratory or utility-intensive service | Power quality and backup, water and sewer capacity, permits, building systems, specialized hiring, and emergency continuity. |
| Physical-goods company | Building and loading, freight frequency and cost, road or rail connections, utility capacity, workforce access, and expansion land. |
These profiles are starting points, not universal rankings. A startup with unusual regulatory, data, safety, or customer requirements should add those requirements before scoring cities.
A practical due-diligence sequence
- Write the dependency list. Specify required roles, bandwidth and latency, utility loads, permits, building features, travel, freight, and opening date.
- Shortlist sites, not just cities. Gather at least one actual address or parcel in each candidate location.
- Run the address-level checks. Search the FCC map, contact providers, inspect cellular signal indoors, and request utility and property documentation.
- Validate the labor shed. Test commute times, interview recruiters and workforce organizations, and identify realistic hiring channels.
- Validate movement and access. Obtain carrier, airport, road, rail, port, and transit details that match your schedule and volume.
- Inspect the site. Confirm condition, zoning, permits, capacity, expansion, loading, safety, and the work required before occupancy.
- Build the multi-year pro forma. Add recurring, one-time, transition, redundancy, and risk-mitigation costs.
- Score and stress-test. Recalculate results for slower hiring, a delayed utility upgrade, a primary-link outage, higher freight costs, or a smaller incentive.
- Document commitments. Put provider, landlord, utility, and public-agency promises in writing with responsible parties and dates before signing.
Common mistakes that invalidate a location decision
- Using a citywide broadband label instead of confirming the exact suite or parcel.
- Treating advertised speed as measured performance or assuming mobile coverage works indoors.
- Comparing residential internet prices with business-service requirements.
- Assuming a nearby airport, rail line, port, or transit stop provides the frequency and schedule the company needs.
- Counting the municipal population instead of the relevant commute-shed talent pool.
- Ignoring utility upgrades, permitting, build-out, relocation, redundancy, and transition overlap.
- Choosing a building before confirming zoning, occupancy timing, loading, and expansion rights.
- Ranking incentives or low rent before checking eligibility, duration, and total operating cost.
- Applying U.S. agency tools as if they were universal; international founders need equivalent local authorities and rules.
What a defensible decision looks like
A defensible move recommendation names the exact site, shows written broadband and utility evidence, explains how critical roles will be recruited within a realistic commute, documents property and transport assumptions, accounts for employee relocation, and compares full costs over the planning horizon. It also states which risks remain, who owns each mitigation, and what condition would stop the move.
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