Jyväskylä ranks first among large cities in the Municipal Barometer
Entrepreneurs who responded to the Municipal Barometer gave Jyväskylä the highest overall rating among cities with more than 100,000 residents. Jyväskylä ranked third among cities with more than 50,000 residents, improving its ranking by one place from last year. The national Municipal Barometer by Suomen Yrittäjät measures municipalities’ success in promoting entrepreneurship.
Jyväskylä once again ranked first among large municipalities with over 100,000 residents in the overall ratings of the Municipal Barometer, with a score of 3.21. The city’s score improved from two years ago, when Jyväskylä ranked first among large cities with a score of 3.10. The level of scores received by Jyväskylä is also significantly higher than that of other cities with over 100,000 residents. The next largest cities in this year’s Municipal Barometer were Lahti (3.09), Tampere (3.00), and Kuopio (3.00).
“The city has just renewed its strategy. Its key areas of focus are improving conditions for businesses and boosting employment. We are developing cooperation with businesses and business services tailored to them so that the city can maintain its top ranking in the future”, summarizes Jukka Hämäläinen, Chairman of the Jyväskylä City Board.
The Municipal Barometer is used to measure cooperation between municipalities and entrepreneurs, as well as the state of economic policy, every two years at the municipal, regional, and national levels. Entrepreneurs are asked, for example, how they feel the city takes businesses into account in decision-making, how business services are working, and whether the city has succeeded in creating favorable environments for entrepreneurship.
“If our local businesses thrive, the city thrives. Business growth is essential for creating new jobs and encouraging people to stay in our city. It’s important to hear how businesses view the city’s operations. We value entrepreneurs’ hard work and courage. We want that to be evident to businesses as well”, summarizes Timo Koivisto, Mayor of Jyväskylä.
Collaboration and skilled professionals are Jyväskylä’s key assets
Ari Tolonen, Director of the City of Jyväskylä’s Business Development and Employment Services, explains that collaboration is Jyväskylä’s key asset:
“Seamless cooperation with local businesses and entrepreneur organizations is central to Jyväskylä’s Business Development and Employment Services. For us, cooperation means everyday actions such as providing smooth business services, offering solutions, and engaging in interaction. Together with educational institutions and trainers, we ensure that suitable expertise and skilled professionals will continue to be available to meet the needs of local businesses in the future,” says Tolonen.
Entrepreneurs gave the highest ratings for the success of Jyväskylä’s economic policy specifically in the areas of education and skills (3.45). The education section covered, among other things, questions about how the city promotes the availability of a skilled workforce and offers entrepreneurs and company staff opportunities for skills development. Business services (3.33) and infrastructure (3.31) also received praise, with both scores exceeding the national average.
Employment Services are important for entrepreneurs
In Jyväskylä, employment services are considered a more important service than they are ranked nationwide. The Municipal Barometer assessed the success of employment policy for the first time since employment services were transferred to the responsibility of municipalities and employment area.
“The role of municipalities in employment, entrepreneurship, and innovation has strengthened in recent years. Starting in early 2025, municipalities also gained access to a full toolkit for addressing companies’ skills needs. Companies and employers receive services from the City of Jyväskylä for all stages of the business lifecycle: from starting a business to recruiting employees and transition support services when operations are scaled back”, says Hanna Lähteelä, Director of Employment Services.
The full Municipal Barometer 2026 survey is available on the Suomen Yrittäjät’s website.