The entrepreneur game is not just for the young. As traditional retirement changes, more baby boomers are looking to capitalize on their experience by starting their own business. Thanks to the internet and the boom of the sharing economy, there are more ways than ever now to make your dreams a reality. You can raise money through crowdfunding to help you get the capital needed to start your business.

Being self-employed offers many advantages; it can be a great way to transition from working full-time to part-time and usually allows greater flexibility. If starting a business is something that interests you, you may have wondered if there are there certain cities within the country that offer better prospects, specifically for boomers. According to a study conducted by LendingTree, the answer is yes.

It's important to note that location should be a top priority if you're planning to open a local business, but it may not matter as much for other kinds of startups. Adam Guild helps to clarify the differences between a local business and startup and offers some great advice for entrepreneurs looking to start local businesses.

So, what makes one location better than another? Analysts from the company focused on three measures to determine which cities across the U.S. are best for boomer entrepreneurs:

• Average business incomes - gives a sense of how much income there is overall.
• Median business incomes - tells you how much most people are earning.
• Percentage of new businesses that were founded by boomers - indicates how attractive and welcoming areas are to entrepreneurs in the boomer age bracket.

After analyzing the results, LendingTree put the cities in order based on their scores. Below are the top 10:

1. San Jose, Calif.                                                  

2. San Francisco                                                    

3. Boston                                                 

4. Sacramento, Calif.                                                           

5. Nashville, Tenn.                                               

6. Hartford, Conn.                                                

7. Houston                                                              

8. Austin, Texas                                                    

9. Los Angeles                                                       

10. Memphis, Tenn.     

Taking the top spot is San Jose, California, which boasts the highest percentage of new businesses founded by boomers in the past five years (24%) and the highest average business income ($47,401). If the income level seems low, it's important to keep in mind that "self-employed" varies greatly from person to person. One person may work full-time, whereas another person may only work a few hours a week at their own business. Also, business income may not be an entrepreneur's sole income - social security, investment income, retirement benefits or other part-time work may supplement the business income.

There are other reasons why location matters for your small business in addition to the three measures mentioned above. You should research the median income of the zip codes you are considering operating in. If you’re going to sell expensive watches for example, you would obviously want to do so in an affluent city. Consider existing business in the area. Are they competitors? Can you stand to benefit from the foot traffic they generate? Perhaps their employees could become your customers. You may not think about this when you’re just getting started but think about down the road when you start hiring employees. Would potential employees like the area and want to work there? Are there restaurants, daycares, parks, etc. nearby?

Also, find out what local laws or ordinances could impact your business, as it could be substantially more expensive to operate in one location versus another. You could reach out to an association in your industry or call the city’s business development office to inquire. Find out about intellectual, environment, labor, and privacy laws to name a few. And don’t forget about local advertising ordinances. For example, if you plan to start a landscaping company, you may want to take advantage of yard signs to advertise your business, but some municipalities have strict ordinances that dictate if and how you can use advertising signage.

Lastly, find out how previous businesses have fared in that city. If you hope to start a Bed & Breakfast in a city where multiple others have opened and then closed, you will want to find out why.