• Utah has the most people looking to start a new business or side hustle each month with 365 searches per 100,000 residents.

• Arizona and Colorado are in second and third place respectively, with 357 and 351 monthly searches per 100,000 residents.

• Georgia ranks seventh in the study.

• The state where the least searches are being made for starting a small business is Mississippi, with 202 searches per month on average.

Utah is the state with the most people looking to start a new business in the new year, according to a new study.

Business ideas and information site The Small Business Blog analyzed search data from Google Keyword Planner for more than 100 terms related to the term ‘side hustle’ and ‘small business’. The average number of monthly searches for these 100 search terms were calculated for each state as a proportion of 100,000 residents.

Utah was found to have the most people looking to begin a new business in 2024, with 365 searches on average every month per 100,000 people. The most Googled search terms in Utah included, ‘side hustle’ and ‘side hustle ideas’.

Arizona has the second highest proportion of people looking for a side hustle or to start a small business with 357 searches on average every month per 100,000 people. The top searched terms in Arizona included ‘side hustle’, ‘small business owner’, and ‘side hustles from home’.

In third place is Colorado with 351 average monthly searches per 100,000 people. The top searched terms in Colorado included ‘small businesses’, how to start small business’ and ‘easy side hustle’. In Colorado, there are 691,230 registered small businesses in the state.

In fourth place is New York with 330 average monthly searches per 100,000 people. The top searched terms in New York included ‘side hustle’, ‘side gig’ and ‘startup business’. There are 2.2 million small to medium enterprises in New York as of 2023.

Next, in fifth place, is Nevada with 318 average monthly searches per 100,000 people. The top searched terms in Nevada included ‘small business owner’, ‘how to start small business’, ‘side hustles that make money’ and ‘making money from home’.

Nebraska is in sixth place with searches of 308 searches per 100,000 people each month on average. Top searches in the state include ‘best side hustles’, ‘small businesses’ and ‘how to start side hustle’.

In seventh and eighth place respectively, are Georgia and Oregon. Georgia produces 305, while Oregon had an average of 304 searches per 100,000 people.

In joint ninth, are Pennsylvania and Texas. They both had 302 searches on average per 100,000 people. Pennsylvania has just under 1.1 million small to medium businesses registered in the state to date, whilst Texas has 3.1 million.

In tenth place is Missouri with 301 searches on average per 100,000 people.

The state with the least people looking for a side job on average was Mississippi, with 202 searches per 100,000 people.

A spokesperson for The Small Business Blog commented:

“The cost of living across America has risen drastically and it has become necessary for many households to seek additional sources of income whether this be in the form of a side hustle or a fully-fledged small business.

“In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report there has been an 8.29% increase since 2021 of Americans having more than one job.

With this in mind, the data provides an interesting insight into the disparities across America for interest in starting a new business venture with Utah having nearly double the interest compared to Mississippi.”