Washington, D.C. is the toughest place in the country to launch a new business right now.

One in three businesses will fail in the first year, according to a new survey from Lending Tree.

“Starting a new business is tough anywhere, but in D.C. right now, it’s as tough as it is anywhere in the country,” said Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at Lending Tree.

“We looked at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and found the D.C. has the highest first-year business failure rate in the whole country, with about a third of new businesses closing within a year. So that is a daunting sign for aspiring entrepreneurs in the nation’s capital,” he added.

Schulz said several factors are likely complicating the business landscape for D.C. entrepreneurs.

“I know that D.C. is an expensive place to live,” he said. “It’s a transitory place. A lot of people are coming in and out of there. It’s a competitive place. It’s a political place. So you can see where it could potentially be a challenging place to get a business started.”

Schulz said the 33% failure rate is “troubling,” compared to the 20% often found around the country.

The Lending Tree survey also looked at failure rates after five and 10 years, and the picture remained ugly for D.C., with 57% of entrepreneurs failing after five years and 72% failing after a decade.

First-year businesses fared only slightly better for D.C.’s neighbors. Maryland ranked 11th in this survey and Virginia 15th.

So, what should new business owners around the region do?

No matter where you start a business, Schulz recommends they follow these tips:

• Make sure you know what problem you’re trying to solve for people
• Target a specific audience
• Be extremely intentional about your spending

“The last thing you want to do is go in without a good idea of what makes your business different,” he said.