Mid-Year Small Biz Check-Up: Not So Hot

Small businesses also failed at a higher rate than average in Tennessee (36%) and Colorado (33%). The drop in Tennessee was credited to a fall in manufacturing throughout the state, while Colorado's tourist industry suffered when fewer visitors flew in for ski vacations.

Where did small businesses fare the best? Rural states, including North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming and Kansas, had far lower failure rates than average. Those states seem to have benefited from their steady, natural resource-based economies, which weren't caught up in the real-estate boom.

Curiously, businesses in Vermont had a failure rate 47% below average, while failure rates in neighboring New Hampshire were 38% above average. Perhaps not surprisingly, the U.S. Bancorp survey ended by asking how business owners felt about their bank, and here the news wasn't good. Only 32% of owners said their bank met all their needs. Among the top complaints: not enough personal attention or one-on-one mentoring and consulting. When it comes to financial institutions, it seems, small-business owners think there's still a lot of work to be done.