Stickiness of entrepreneurs: an exploratory study of migration in two mid-sized US cities

What makes a place desirable is the subject of much debate. We conduct a mixed methods analysis on two mid-sized US cities—Indianapolis and Kansas City. We use a migration analysis to understand the flow of the general population, creative workers, and entrepreneurs, followed by an exploratory qualitative analysis of impactful entrepreneurs. Our migration analysis shows that these cities are gaining population overall as well as creative workers and entrepreneurs, and our exploratory qualitative analysis shows that entrepreneurs broadly value quality of life factors, including social and family reasons. Our analysis suggests that entrepreneurs are less mobile than the general population, and that they start companies where they live. We discuss the implications of our study for the broader debate on what makes cities attractive and for further refinement of multidimensionality in the urban amenities literature. Plain English Summary Entrepreneurs and creative workers are less mobile than the general population in two mid-sized American cities. We study migration trends of the general population, creative workers, and entrepreneurs in Indianapolis and Kansas City, supplemented with exploratory interviews of impactful entrepreneurs. We find that entrepreneurs are “sticky” in both contexts, and that the reasons for location can be tied to quality of life overall. Our findings have implications for research, which can further investigate the multidimensionality of attractiveness of place, and for policy, which can consider the needs of entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs.