Small businesses continue to spring up in Santa Clarita and large corporations move their operations to the area for a multitude of reasons, one being the city’s reputation as being a business-friendly community.

That reputation was reinforced with the release of the 2017 Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey, which again ranked Santa Clarita among the best cities for doing business in Southern California.

Cities are selected for inclusion prior to data being collected for the survey and are ranked based on municipal and county taxes, fees and other demographics. The results are then sorted into five “Cost Ratings” groups: Very Low Cost ($), Low Cost ($$), Average Cost ($$$), High Cost ($$$$) and Very High Cost ($$$$$).

Santa Clarita was recognized as a Low-Cost city due to its low property tax rates, no utility tax and several other business benefits in comparison to neighboring cities, such as Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and Los Angeles.

Santa Clarita is Los Angeles County’s third-largest city, with a population of more than 225,000, and continues to support diverse, high-performing businesses.

Two new projects have recently broken ground, Vista Canyon and Needham Ranch, both of which will be home to office buildings for more businesses to move into.

During the past year, the city was successful in attracting top retailers and restaurants like Nordstrom Rack, Saddle Ranch Chop House, Cheesecake Factory and Urban Home.

The Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey is the product of a partnership between Kosmont Companies, a well-known Los Angeles business and real estate advisory group, and The Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College.

The survey has been conducted each year since 1995 and takes a close look at the cost of doing business in the Western United States (California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington) over the previous calendar year.

For more information about the 2017 Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey, visit RoseInstitute.org.

To find out more about the City of Santa Clarita’s growing business climate and retail market, visit ThinkSantaClarita.com.