Small towns can be big businesses. Entrepreneurs, check out this huge list of profitable business ideas for small towns and rural areas to startups in your small town.
As surprising as it sounds, small towns can be big business opportunities. If you’re interested in starting a business, don’t let your rural surroundings stop you from starting a successful company. Remember that America’s largest company, Walmart, built its fortune with retail stores in small towns. Sam Walton knew that people want to buy goods and services near their homes.
Living in a small town is great, but it can have its unique challenges. Generally, the quality of living is excellent, but the lack of customers, employees, and infrastructure combined with the difficult logistics of transportation and shipping from rural areas can be tough.
A key to starting a profitable business in your small town is to take advantage of the lack of competition from mass-market companies that cater to cities. You’ll also need to overcome the challenges of finding local staffing, customers, and even navigating difficulties like overcoming shipping costs and unique market demands.
But before you dive into those challenges of your local market, you first need a good small town business idea. And this guide has you covered. We’ve got nearly 80 different small town business ideas to choose from. Whether you want something online, in the food industry, or anything in between, we’ve got a small business idea for you.
Even though you live in a small town, don’t be fooled into thinking that people (and even local business owners) don’t want help with different services. Whether it’s help cleaning their home during a busy week, tutoring their kid in math, or anything in between, there are lots of service business ideas to choose from, even in a small town.
Even small town citizens need help keeping their home clean, whether it’s on a weekly basis or before selling their house. Or if you’re a college town, you could even offer your services to dormitories and fraternity and sorority houses. Your cleaning business can help meet these needs.
Interested? Check out our cleaning business name suggestions to pick a name.
Many rural areas do not have automatic car wash facilities. So, you can launch a mobile car wash. Alternatively, you could offer car detailing services, traveling to people’s homes and wash and detailing their automobiles. If you’d like to make more money, include services for motorcycles, RV, campers, ATV, and boats, too.
Parents in small towns are just as busy as parents in large towns. So they need a reliable place to send their kids while they’re at work. So you could start a childcare center. Just be aware that you’ll need a variety of health and safety certifications to run this business compliantly.
Small towns still need to party! Whether you want to specialize in weddings, corporate events, or birthdays, you can make a living planning perfect events. You’ll need a good network of other vendors, so be prepared to find the best florists, caterers, and entertainers.
Interested? Check out these wedding planning business name ideas.
America’s aging baby boomers want indoor exercise facilities near their homes. Sports enthusiasts want to stay in shape to win the game. Moms want to keep fit to run after their kids and stay healthy. That means there’s room for you to open a gym or offer personal fitness training services in your small towns.
Do you have skills in cutting dogs’ hair? Or are you willing to learn that skill? Your local pet owners need your skills, so why not start a dog grooming business? You can offer these services in a retail location, or you can go mobile and start a mobile dog grooming salon.
If this idea intrigues you, check out our list of catchy dog grooming business names.
Fido is great, but sometimes Fido misbehaves. You can start a business to train Fido, even in a small town. You could train in basic skills and socialization or take your services full-scale and train service animals.
A super practical service for small town residents and vacationers alike is a laundry and cleaning service. You can pick up and deliver laundry. You could expand your services to dry clean formal wear and suits, too. There are possibilities to start this business in a brick and mortar location, or you could go mobile as well.
No matter how big or small your local community is, there will be people who need help with their computer and internet. You could start a business offering computer assistance. You can offer this business in-store, or you could help clients directly in their homes.
Why not start a print shop? Local business owners, professionals, and even homeowners all need help printing from time to time. Parents need party invitations printed. Business owners need business cards. Professionals might need their resume printed on good quality paper. Your business can help.
Do you know anyone in town who needs their written content to be professional and error-free? You can build a business in a small town by editing and proofreading blogs, magazine articles, resumes, and more.
Women and men alike want to take care of themselves, even beyond the city. If you’re good at nail care, or you can assemble the staff to run a spa, you could start a nail salon business or a spa. Build a relaxing environment centered around manicures and pedicures, therapeutic facials, massages, and more.
Rural homes often have larger yards that need to be cut and planted by professionals. If this interests you, we’ve got a few helpful resources below that can help you get started.
Almost all small towns have internet access, especially in the U.S. This technology enables you, an aspiring entrepreneur, to reach both local residents and the whole world from your small town location.
Be location-independent by working on the internet designing websites for businesses in your town, nationwide, and even internationally. To make this work, you’ll need to be familiar with some basic coding and website building software.
Businesses both locally and nationally want to hire ad professionals to manage their online advertising. You could both create compelling ads (copy and design) and manage their campaigns. Internet ad platforms include Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Linked In, and Yelp.
Offer your art talents to local clients for logo design, brochures, signs, trade show booths, and apparel. If the local demand isn’t high enough, you can also serve clients nationally and internationally as well.
The peace and quiet of small towns are the perfect environments for writers. As the internet grows the need for quality articles is soaring. Consider selling your writing services locally to newspapers, schools, businesses, and organizations for newsletters, press releases, advertisements, brochures, and programs.
Additionally, you can write for clients worldwide using the internet. Consider selling your writing services on marketplaces such as freelancer, Upwork, and Fiverr.
Got a passion and love to write? Blogging is the best business idea for you that you can launch in your small town. Earn money by placing ads on your blog and selling products with Amazon’s affiliate program.
Affiliate marketing can be a successful small town business idea to pursue. You could do this in addition to blogging by promoting companies’ products. You’d earn a commission when your site’s visitors make a purchase on your affiliate’s sites.
Start a YouTube channel and earn income with advertisements. You could make content about small-town living, homesteading, farming, animal husbandry, and so much more. If you enjoy it, odds are there’s a good audience for it, too.
Podcasts are a trending media source that you can profit from. It’s not too different from a YouTube channel (just an audio channel instead of visual). You can talk about your interests and hobbies, a niche industry you’re familiar with, or even urban legends from your small town. Monetize your podcast with advertisements and sponsorships.
Organizations and businesses cannot keep up with their social media accounts. Your service will be to write and post online promoting their products and services. Offer packages with multiple sites or specialize on a particular website such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
If you’re looking to start a business in a small town, a retail store might not be a bad idea. Retail businesses are often considered riskier because they have hefty upfront costs. But in small towns, there’s usually less competition. But if you find the right niche market, you might be able to make it succeed.
Everybody needs clothes. Small communities appreciate buying their outfits locally to support the economy of their town. Your buyers will also save time and money not driving to the city mall.
Babies and toddlers continually outgrow their clothes. Offer a full range of children’s sizes to your local families.
Starting a grocery store can be a successful small town enterprise. You could franchise under a major chain grocery store, or you could start your own independent store, building a reputation as the local supply shop for food and essentials.
Families in small towns still enjoy toy stores, but they might not want to drive all the way into the city to find the best toys. You can cater to that demand by creating a toy store with toys and games.
Amazon might have taken over a lot of the book retail scene, but that doesn’t mean that customers don’t crave a local bookstore. After all, where else can they walk through rows of books, smell the paper and ink, and get recommendations on great new titles? You can create a bookstore business and even sell stationary, greeting cards, calendars, and gifts to make extra cash, too.
Today’s frugal consumer looks for good used items, from clothing to baby equipment. Variations of this business idea would be to open a vintage shop or antique gallery.
Every small town needs a florist because every town needs flowers for weddings, parties, funerals, and gifts. Your business could meet that need. If you want, you can offer delivery only or offer a retail storefront.
America spends billions on greeting cards and gifts every year, and small towns are part of that demand. Cash in on this need.
People living in rural areas still need to use technology; some might even say they use technology more than people in busy areas so they can stay connected. You can serve your small-town tech needs with sales, repair, upgrades, and training classes.
Every small town has its own unique culture, and food is a big part of that. If you love food, why not start a food business idea in your small town? Here are some rewarding food business ideas to consider.
And if these interest you, learn more about some of our favorite profitable food business ideas.
These days people have more sophisticated palettes and want to buy specialty cheeses, wines, and prepared take-out foods. You can build a store around those tastes. Alternatively, you could cater to specific dietary needs like vegan cuisine or gluten-free diets.
A diner can be a successful small town restaurant, complete with nostalgic decor and a menu full of comfort foods. As a plus, many diners take up a small footprint, so it can be a great fit for a smaller location.
If you’ve got a few classic recipes that your friends just can’t resist, why not get paid for making those recipes? A restaurant can be especially rewarding to start in a small town if there aren’t many other restaurants nearby.
Just keep in mind the restaurants are challenging businesses to start, so be prepared to navigate startup costs, staffing, health codes, and more.
Interested? Check out some of these restaurant business resources.
In big cities, food delivery giants like Uber Eats and Door Dash have big holds on the delivery market. And if you want to work for one of those brands in your small town, you can certainly make that work. But you also have a good opportunity to start your own independent food delivery business by marketing your services directly to local restaurant owners, too.
Every small town needs a good coffee house. You can build a business as a great gathering center for your town by offering great brews of coffee and tea. You could even partner with a local bakery to sell delicious pastries and baked goods as well.
Is your small town passionate about football? Soccer? Hockey? Why not create a town hangout spot for game days? You could offer a great menu of drinks, appetizers, and even full entrees for your customers. If you need to drive up business outside of game days, you can consider hosting local events like karaoke, bingo events, and more.
Interested? Check out this list of bar name ideas.
The organic food trend is growing vigorously, and often small towns have no access to specialty health foods. For example, you could succeed by opening a new store that caters to vegans, gluten-free, and natural vitamin supplements.
Villages are the perfect place for good old-fashioned bakeries. You can have generations of loyal customers. Get naming inspiration from this list of catchy bakery names.
Everyone screams for ice cream. They might also scream for ice cream cake and a great place to hang out on a hot summer afternoon. You could start small with an ice cream stand, mobile cart, or renting a section in an existing eatery. And if you want to take it full scale, you can open your own location.
Not everyone can run a full-time farm. But a lot of people appreciate homegrown fruits and veggies. So why not team up with your neighbors to build a small neighborhood farm together? You can build a business as a co-op, coordinating the use of your farmland, maintenance schedules, and more.
If you’re not interested in the co-op life, check out these other farming business resources:
Every business comes with a certain amount of risk and inconvenience. Some businesses are really expensive to start. Others require you to be in-office all the time. But if you want to keep your startup costs low, or you’d rather work from home, don’t worry. We’ve got some great small town business ideas that are home-based or low-cost.
If you are creative and enjoy making items, this could be an ideal small business for you. Craft your wares in your small town, then sell your items to the world online. Use an established marketplace like Etsy. The best-selling items include jewelry, clothing, and home decor.
Thinking about opening an Etsy shop? Check out our Etsy startup guide with step-by-step instructions, a list of fees, and examples of the most profitable shops on Etsy.com.
Are you inspired by the natural beauty in your small town? Do you have artistic talents? Why not create a business out of that talent? You can create beautiful art and sell it to local customers, city galleries, and even international art enthusiasts.
Todays’ technology companies will manufacture your designs onto t-shirts for sale locally or online. Branch out into other in-demand products such as phone cases, hats, aprons, and coffee mugs. Some of the top firms are Amazon Merch, CafePress, and Society6.
If you have access to a wood shop it can be used to create a variety of items for sale. Best selling items are home decor, planter boxes, picture frames, baby cradles, and outdoor furniture.
From your small townhouse, you can help business executives nationwide with their administrative tasks. The highest-demand services are appointment scheduling, travel arrangements, event planning, customer service, data entry, and online research.
If you are creative and love to refurbish furniture this would be a good business for you to launch. Find interesting items at yard sales, thrift shops, or even the dump and give them new life with repairs, paint, and refinishing.
Once your repairs are done, you can sell your furniture in flea markets, farmers’ markets, and furniture showrooms. Online options for sales include eBay, Facebook, craigslist, and your own website.
You can also offer this service directly to customers in town whose furniture needs a facelift.
Many individuals who live in the country heat their homes with wood and will need a reliable supply delivered to their homes. You can build a business by providing them with the firewood they need. You can also cater to local campgrounds for vacationers.
If there are parents in your town, then there’s a business opportunity for you. You can help mom and dad get out for a date night by taking care of their kids for an evening or during the day while they’re at work.
To help establish trust with your clients, you may find it helpful to get certified in first aid and join a reputable association for nannies and babysitters.
If you like to stay on the go, or you want the option to take your business to multiple locations, then a mobile business idea might be a great fit for you. Here are some of our favorite ideas.
Retail stores are traditionally set in one place, but that doesn’t mean you have to take that approach. With a good-sized van, you can set up a mobile retail store and go to where your customers are. You could drive to nearby towns, flea markets and farmers’ markets.
Grow and sell produce at a nearby farmers’ market. This is a low-investment, high-profit business model. Typically farmer’s markets are open one or two days a week. This schedule allows you to maintain your garden farm and only drive to the market a few times a week.
Most rural areas have laws that allow people to sell their crops and handmade items in front of their homes. For example, you could sell eggs, flowers, vegetables, herbs, and baked goods. As an added plus, this stand has low start-up costs.
Food trucks are all the rage now. They are a smart option for small-town restaurants. For those restaurants with permanent locations, the addition of food trucks can expand their market reach into neighboring towns.
First-time food entrepreneurs benefit from opening a food truck because you’re not tied to a specific address. You can drive to where your hungry customers are located – festivals, concerts, flea markets, sporting events, farmers’ markets, and nearby villages.
Make it easy for hungry students, teachers, professionals, or vacationers to grab a snack on the go at your vending machines. This business idea is excellent because once you purchase or lease your vending machine, it can make money for years to come. You could also move the machine to the most profitable locations.
If you’re good with people and you know the best places to live in town, why not start your own real estate business? Even in small towns, people need reliable assistance as they navigate the housing market. You can help them find the perfect home, sell theirs to upgrade to a new one, and much more.
Technical skills are always in demand. From home repairs to haircuts and everything in between, your small town’s citizens need your help. And you can build a business around that need.
Living in a beautiful rural area is ideal for a photography business. You could take photos of natural beauty and sell online as stock photos or become a photo retoucher. You could also restore old photos from your home, or you could photograph for weddings and major events.
Interested? Find out more about our favorite photography business ideas.
It takes skill and knowledge to be able to repair devices like phones and laptops. And small town residents don’t always have that skill at their disposal. Your business can help. Whether it’s fixing a cracked screen or replacing a fried hard drive, you can build a reputation for reliable service.
Sadly, we all get sick from time to time. And when that happens, we need require the expertise of a qualified pharmacist in our neighborhood. When family members are sick they don’t want to travel long distances to cities to get remedies. So you can build a pharmacy business to meet that need.
This business does have a lot of oversight and requires specific certifications, so be sure you have those qualifications before diving in.
Anywhere people live, homes need repair, renewal, and expansion. Build your business on home improvement. And if this idea intrigues you, check out our favorite construction company name ideas here.
Some small towns have no massage services, and you can fill that void with your services. Manage your business at ease with the help of massage scheduling software and travel to your customers’ homes, offices, rent space, in a salon or doctor’s office.
Adults and kids alike need help working on different subjects like math, grammar, and even foreign languages. Some even want help learning how to use a computer efficiently. If you have knowledge in at least one subject (or more), you can build a business helping people in your hometown learn from your expertise.
Even small hamlets have people who need help around the house for odd jobs you can do for them. Some of the top-selling handyman services include gutter repair, drywall repair, small electrical jobs, and door and window restoration.
Everyone needs their hair taken care of. From perms and cuts to custom color, you can build a business creating beautiful hair. If you’re interested in this business, check out our top hair business resources below.
Offer your sewing services to repair and alter clothing. Technically, you don’t even need a storefront. You could go to your client’s home or they could drop off items at your place.
Explore these market niches to get sewing customers: military, police uniforms, organizations like Shriners, wedding planners, fashion designers, schools for sports team jerseys, and theatre troupes for costumes.
More acreage in rural areas means more cars and trucks that will all need to be serviced and repaired locally. Nobody wants to tow their broken vehicles long distances to cities which can be very costly.
Kids and adults alike need to learn to swim; some might even be scared of the water. If you’re qualified in water safety and you know the essentials of swimming technique, you can train others as a business. You could offer group and private lessons in private pools at people’s residences or at local community pools.
Just because you live in a small town doesn’t mean that people don’t visit your town. In fact, a lot of small towns are great destinations for vacations. And there are plenty of business opportunities for travel and tourism that you can tap into.
Do you like working with people? You can build a business helping visitors out. Offer maps, information about tours, accommodations, and local attractions. Your visitors benefit from getting free information from a knowledgeable local, and you profit from the fees tour operators and hotels pay you for referring guests. You can also sell advertising space in your welcome center to local firms. Attract customers by serving free coffee, cold drinks, and local food tastings.
Visitors love to shop while visiting new places. They want to buy souvenirs to give to their friends and as keepsakes of their vacation memories. Set up your shop near a heavily trafficked spot or consider a mobile gift shop. If your store is on wheels, you can transport it to different beaches or tourist spots every day.
Do you live in a beach town? Beaches attract fishermen. Consider launching a charter trip services or opening a supply and bait shop. Also, you could offer fishing advice and instruction if you know your local fishing hot spots.
If your town is located near the ocean or a large lake, you could consider starting a boat rental business or renting out other aquatic equipment. This could include kayaks, paddle boards, water skiing equipment, jet skis, and more. This business has hefty startup costs, but with the right management, you can generate a reliable income by renting equipment to vacationers.
If you’re located near an airport (or a spot where there’s more foot traffic than vehicle traffic), it might be beneficial to start a transportation business. You could run shuttles from local parking lots to the beach front, pick people up at the airport, or take people home from the local club. This business might require specific licensing for transportation, especially if you’re operating large vehicles like busses.
Mountain towns boast a lot of hiking trails and remote parks to explore, but they can be tricky to navigate without guidance. If you know those trails well, you can build a business through hiking tours. A certification in first aid can be especially helpful to foster trust and keep your tourists safe.
In a related vein to hiking tours, you could publish maps about your local hiking trails to guide visitors through your parks safely. You can monetize these maps through ads from other vendors.
Is the fresh powder the best part of your small town? If so, you probably have visitors who come to ski and ride snowmobiles across the countryside. So you could start a snowmobile rental business and help visitors enjoy the great outdoors at higher speeds. You could also rent out skis, ski boots, safety gear, and more at the local slopes.
Americans love sports. Whether it’s football, NASCAR racing, basketball, baseball, swimming, or anything in between, it’s hard to beat the thrill of a great game or race. If you like the allure of these events, you could build a business hosting them.
Not everyone likes to travel and stay in a hotel or AirBnB. Some people love to be in the great outdoors and still be comfortable in their own RVs. And they need a campground for that. So why not build a business to meet that need? You’ll need a lot of wide open space, and you’ll have to build amenities like bathhouses, electrical hookups, and more.
If this idea catches your eye, check out our guide to making your campground profitable.
If you’re knowledgeable about your local area and you’re good with kids, why not host school field trips? You could teach kids about your local wildlife, your town’s history, and much more. To make this business work, it can be helpful to build relationships with schools in your region.
Do you like hosting people, especially in a more intimate setting, like they’re your old friends? Why not start a bed and breakfast business? You can create a cozy home-like space with comfortable rooms and great breakfasts to make visitors feel at home for their entire stay.
City dwellers and suburbanites love to drive out to the country and experience farm life. Share your everyday activities to entertain and educate families about their food sources and animal husbandry. For example, you could even start a farm internship where people pay you to work on the farm and learn from your expertise. Some farms do this and are booked out months in advance.
You could also tap into ideas like apple and strawberry picking. Other profitable agritourism business ideas include farm tours, pony rides, picnics, food events, pumpkin chucking, corn mazes (or sunflower mazes), and wine tastings. With agritourism, there are lots of different ways to build a lucrative business, even in your hometown.
In 2025, small-town businesses are thriving in industries that align with consumer demand for convenience, sustainability, and affordability. One of the fastest-growing sectors is sustainable energy solutions, including businesses that provide energy audits, solar panel installation, and energy-efficient retrofitting for homes and small businesses. As more rural areas gain access to incentives for clean energy, small businesses in this space are positioned for long-term success.
Another high-growth area is health and wellness services, including mobile healthcare providers, independent pharmacies, and fitness businesses. With limited access to large healthcare facilities in rural areas, small-town entrepreneurs are stepping in to offer personalized care, holistic health options, and specialized fitness programs. Additionally, local food production and specialty food businesses, such as organic farms, microbreweries, and farm-to-table restaurants, are seeing increased consumer interest as people prioritize fresh, locally sourced products.
Lastly, service-based businesses that support remote work, such as co-working spaces, IT support, and digital marketing services, continue to grow as more professionals choose to live in rural areas while working for companies remotely. Small-town businesses that cater to these trends are not only growing rapidly but are also becoming essential parts of their communities.
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