US Startup Ecosystem Tiers Bay Area vs Every Other City

Author:

Peter Walker

Published date:

May 18, 2026

Carta data from 60,000+ startups ranks US metro areas into tiers by early-stage capital—the Bay Area stands alone in Tier 1, with NYC, Boston, and LA in Tier 2.

Here are the tiers for venture ecosystems across the US, judged by capital invested into Seed + Series A + Series B rounds.

Data is from the 60,000+ startups that use Carta; location is judged by where the startup is located (not the investor).

𝗧𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝟭

• Bay Area...yup, this is the only Tier 1

𝗧𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝟮

• New York
• Boston
• Los Angeles

𝗧𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝟯

• Austin
• Seattle
• San Diego
• DC
• Denver

𝗧𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝟰

• Dallas
• Miami
• Chicago
• Salt Lake / Provo
• Atlanta
• Many others around here

There are LOTS of places across the US where you can raise a very solid Seed or Series A round. This should be celebrated, since it was not the case 10 years ago.

There are only a few places where you can raise Series C, D, or late-stage capital. That's the toughest nut to crack for any emerging ecosystem.

And there is only one Bay Area - but you don't need to move to SF. Just visit every once in a while 😁

Author: Peter Walker

Peter Walker runs the Insights team at Carta, focused on discovering key data and narratives across the private capital ecosystem. In a former life, he was a marketing executive for a media analytics startup and led the data visualization team at the Covid Tracking Project.