Bellingham is one of the best cities to start a business in during 2017, a website found. Out of 358 cities across the U.S., business blog HeroPay ranked Bellingham as no. 51 for the best city to start a small business this year. Key metrics for the ranking included business activity, quality of life, labor costs and taxes.

The site also surveyed 150 small business owners throughout the country. Most respondents cited labor costs as being the most important factor in their business. Forty-five percent of respondents predicted that the economy would shrink this year, 37 percent thought it would expand, and 18 percent thought it would stay the same. See the full results of the survey, and the full ranking by visiting https://www.heropay.com/academy/best-cities-start-business/