Is Ouachita Parish the strongest place in the state for small business? Yes and no.

Ouachita Parish took the top spot in a recent study that ranked the strongest places in Louisiana for small business presence, but that news may not be quite as good as it sounds.

The parish ranked number one in a new study from SmartAsset, but metropolitan hubs like Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport didn't even make the top ten list.

SmartAsset is a financial technology company that provides data for personal financial decisions.

While that may seem like a local win for the economy, a deeper look at the study suggests the list may better point out those areas most dependent on small businesses to make the economy run.

Tammy Johnston, professor of economics at the University of Louisiana Monroe, said the methodology for this study reveals not of the best places for small business owners in Louisiana but the best areas in the state for small businesses that do not also host large companies.

"Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where those large refineries are — they're not classified as small businesses, and you have more people employed by those types of businesses," Johnston said. "That's what the study is actually showing. We don't have that, and so therefore, more people are employed by small businesses (in Ouachita Parish)."

The ranking took three factors into account: the percentage of people who earn income from a small business, the proportion of the first factor to parish small business income and taxes.

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Ouachita was one of two Northeast Louisiana parishes to make the top ten list. East Carroll Parish, which is even more rural than Ouachita, sits at number five.

In Ouachita Parish, 12.4% of the population earns their income by working for a small business whereas in East Carroll, that number is 12.93%. Additionally, 32.27% of the tax returns in Ouachita Parish are from small businesses; 27.76% are from East Carroll.

"I think it's just because it's rural," Johnston said. "There's nothing else for people to do if they don't have a small business. And it's not even necessarily that they have more small businesses, it's just that that's all they've got."

Orleans Parish, home to New Orleans, ranks 25th, according to the study. There, 7.93% of the population earns their living through a small business, and 23.51% of tax returns come from small businesses.

Johnston said areas like Ouachita Parish can attract larger companies by offering tax incentives. She said companies also look for good infrastructure, such as with roads or railway access. Ouachita Parish has a good base with infrastructure with its location along I-20, Johnston said. However, Ouachita Parish doesn't have the same sort of higher-paying jobs as the big cities.

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But the findings are not all bad, either.

"We're not a Shreveport; we're not a New Orleans, but we're the next best thing," Johnston said. "If you take out the big cities, Monroe and West Monroe are it."

The cities of Monroe and West Monroe are doing well as far as encouraging small businesses to grow, Johnston said. It helps that the cities help generate publicity for small businesses and build an atmosphere for entrepreneurs.

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Johnston said small businesses in the area would further benefit from increasing its pool of well-trained employees. Achieving this goal entails improving the school systems as well as providing more technical training opportunities, especially in the high schools, she said.

In addition to the motivation from local agencies, Johnston said small businesses are able to thrive in Ouachita Parish because there is a population to support them.

"East Carroll, you'll realize they may have small businesses, but it'd be interesting to see what size the small businesses are because there just isn't a population there," Johnston said. "We've got a nice population base here between Monroe and West Monroe."

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This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Ouachita Parish named strongest area in the state for small business