One in 18 U.S. Women is a Business Owner

Ownership of businesses by women has been growing at twice the rate of ownership by the population as a whole, according to a paper just released by the Center for Women’s Business Research in Washington, DC.

Over one in 18 adult women in the U.S. – 5.7 percent – is a business owner. Alaska boasts the highest rate of female entrepreneurship, with 9.4 percent of the adult women in the state owning businesses.

Mississippi is the lowest with only 1 in 25 or 4.0 percent of the women in the state acting as business owners, according to a new analysis from Center for Women’s Business Research.

Washington ranks 11th in the nation in its rate of female business ownership. The data shows that 6.6 percent of the adult female population owned businesses, accounting for 146,528 of the state’s 465,838 businesses.

The Center’s research brief, “Women’s Business Ownership by State,” is based on analysis of both business and household Census data and draws from the December 2001 report by the Center, “Women-Owned Businesses in 2002: Trends in the U.S. and 50 States.”

Rates of business ownership among all adults range from a high of 15.1 percent in Montana to a low of 8.0 percent in West Virginia. Washington showed an overall rate of 10.6 percent.

Though men are currently more likely than women to be business owners, (10.4 percent of all adults compared to 5.7 percent of women), female entrepreneurship has been growing at twice the national average since 1997.

“Our research shows that women’s entrepreneurship is flourishing throughout the U.S. Nearly 6 percent of all adult women now own and run businesses and contribute substantially to the nation’s economy,” said Myra M. Hart, chair of the Center.

“The analysis of this data enables us to compare business participation rates among women and all adults in every state and creates a baseline for measuring changes and progress in the future.” States with the highest rates of business ownership, both among women and overall, are clustered in the Mountain and Northeast regions of the U.S. Among women, states with the highest rates of business ownership are: Alaska; Colorado; Montana; Vermont; Wyoming; Oregon; Utah; Idaho; Maine; and New Mexico.
The lowest rates of business ownership are found primarily in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Among women, the states with the lowest rates of business ownership are: Mississippi; Pennsylvania; Alabama; Louisiana; Arkansas; West Virginia; South Carolina; Kentucky; Wisconsin; and Ohio.

The complete research brief, which contains ranking information for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia both alphabetically and by rate of ownership, is available at the Center’s Web site, www.womensbusinessresearch.org.