The South and West offer a definite advantage for entrepreneurs, accounting for all but one of the 10 metros with the best small-business scores. The South is home to five of the leading markets, the West to four.

The sole exception in the top 10 comes from the East —Portland, Maine, which ranks 10th. The highest-rated Midwestern market is Des Moines, Iowa, in 22nd place.

The 100 markets in BizJournals' study group had a combined total of 197.3 million residents as of mid-2007, equaling 65 percent of the nation's population. They also contained 4.9 million small businesses.

At the very bottom of the new rankings is Detroit, offering further proof that the declining fortunes of the automotive industry have harmed all kinds of small businesses in Michigan.

Employment has fallen 7.5 percent in the Detroit area since 2003, the worst decline anywhere outside of New Orleans, which was devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Detroit also suffers from a weak concentration of small businesses, with only 22.70 per 1,000 residents, nearly 8 percent below the national average.

Also mired in the bottom five are Toledo, Ohio; Modesto, California; Dayton, Ohio; and Rochester, New York.

This is the fourth time that BizJournals has rated the small-business vitality of America's major markets—and Raleigh is the fourth different winner.

Orlando was No. 1 in the previous rankings, which were released in July 2007. The runners-up were two other Florida markets that were hot at the time: No. 2 Sarasota-Bradenton and No. 3 Miami-Fort Lauderdale. (Florida's 2007 superpowers now rank seventh, 44th, and 12th, respectively.) Last place on the '07 list went to Springfield, Massachusetts.

Miami-Fort Lauderdale finished first in January 2006, boosted by what was then a prosperous economy with a rapidly expanding population base. Memphis finished last.

Portland, Maine, was the leader in BizJournals' original standings in January 2005, in large part because it had the nation's highest concentration of small businesses back then, just as it does now. San Jose, California, occupied last place in the 2005 rankings.

To see a list of the top 10 cities, click here. For a full list of all 100 cities surveyed, click here.