As of 2018, Ventura County ranks 9th among California’s 58 counties for its entrepreneurial ecosystem performance. As displayed through the links below, Ventura County performs best in terms of its startup connectivity, ranking 8th in the state. The County’s entrepreneurial ecosystem also ranks very high in terms of resource fluidity and economic diversity (two foundational indicators of a healthy startup environment), ranking 10th and 11th respectively.
The data in the following section was developed by EDC in collaboration with Xopolis LLC. By adapting a toolkit developed in 2015 by the Kauffman Foundation for measuring entrepreneurial ecosystems, we derived an index of variables and indicators to make county level assessments on the vitality of the local environment for entrepreneurial endeavors.
Our report, “Enabling Ventura County’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem 2018,” includes rankings for all 58 California counties, measuring performance along four broad indicators of entrepreneurial health. Each of these “roll up” indicators is supported by several contributing measures, each summarized in their respective sections below.
For comparative context we look at Ventura County’s condition relative to Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Orange counties, providing a reasonably diverse set of comparatives in the geography and culture on coastal California.
Finally, while we are thrilled to show the comparative rankings, our primary interest is to provide an analytical framework that may inform what actions local leadership might consider to nurture entrepreneurship, thereby improving regional economic competitiveness.
