From Mia’s Pancake House & Grill to UP Oncolytics, a startup company seeking a cure for a deadly form of brain cancer at Rosalind Franklin University’s Helix 51 incubator, North Chicago has become a city recognized as a good place to start a business.

When WalletHub, a financial services company dedicated to helping people make good fiscal choices, decided to rank the 1,334 municipalities in the U.S. with a population range from 25,000 to 100,000, it considered business environment, access to resources and business costs.

North Chicago ranked 56th nationally among the 1,334 as one of the best cities to start a new business in the country, and first in both Illinois and Lake County, based on a survey released April 13 by WalletHub.

Both North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham, Jr., and Kevin Considine, the CEO and president of Lake County Partners, said the city’s designation and ranking confirm efforts over the last several years to attract new business are working.

“What leaps out is North Chicago is first in Illinois and 56th nationwide. It’s pretty awesome,” Considine said. “It shows a lot of planning with the support of an ecosystem around them. Its business niche of food production never ebbed. Now there’s more.”

Rockingham said the seeds were planted years ago, sprouted and are now in full bloom. With a streamlined approach to community development, it makes it less complicated for businesses to open. Each time a new tenant comes to Helix, it means another new business.

“We are looking at all this as a path to our rebuilding project,” Rockingham said. “On our end, we have streamlined the process and it’s showing results. We’re looking at this as a path to more growth.”

Chip Lupo, a writer and analyst for WalletHub, said for the ranking of smaller cities like North Chicago, Waukegan and others with between 25,000 and 100,000 residents, the company takes three categories — business environment, access to resources and business costs — and ranks all 1,334 towns from top to bottom.

Ranking 10th for its business environment, Lupo said that was a major reason North Chicago did so well among other communities in the country, state and county. It was 1,122nd in access to resources and 641st in business costs.

“They are in the top 4% for business environment,” Lupo said. “It fell off in access to resources, or it would have finished much higher. They have a good, well-educated workforce. The city helps Lake County overall.”

Second to North Chicago in Lake County is Waukegan. It ranks 11th in the state and 649th nationally. In the past year, 151 new businesses opened in Waukegan. They are a wide variety, including restaurants, retailers and service operations. Considine said the ranking is an economic boost.

“Job growth comes from small business, and this is a perfect example of that,” Considine said.

While some of the new businesses in North Chicago are considered small businesses like Mia’s and Drive Performance, Considine said each time a startup medical company begins operating in the Helix 51 incubator at Rosalind Franklin, the city scores another new concern.

Both Rockingham and Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said their cities try to make the process of opening a business as uncomplicated as possible for budding entrepreneurs. They recognize job growth is critical to the prosperity of their residents and communities.

“On our end, we streamline the process as much as we can from start to finish,” Cunningham said. “We look at different ways we can streamline it and make it uncomplicated. We want them to look at us as partners.”

Rockingham said he makes it a point to visit new businesses once they begin operation, as he did at Mia’s Pancake House & Grill. The eatery’s owner, Mia Kuhn, said she was thrilled when he came through the door not long after she opened a year ago. The city also eased the process, she said.

“The city has been very nice,” Kuhn said. “They were so helpful. Anytime I had a question, they were always there with an answer. When they come in for inspections, I want everything to be perfect.”

When he came to visit after Mia’s opened, Rockingham said the cook made a variety of dishes for him and his City Hall colleagues to try. He said he makes it a regular practice to visit the new businesses once they are operating.

“We were the tasters,” he said. “We try to do this with all the new businesses. We say thank you for being here.”

When Tyler Grumhaus and his partner opened Drive Performance — a training center for baseball and other sports — in October, they were pleased with how the city helped them navigate the entrepreneurship process. He had time in the corporate world, but being an owner was a new experience.

“They knew how to answer all of my questions,” he said.

Following North Chicago and Waukegan in WalletHub’s rankings in Lake County are Buffalo Grove (796th  nationally), Vernon Hills (846th), Mundelein (978th), Gurnee (1.020th), Highland Park (1,035th) and Round Lake Beach (1,182nd).