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State-By-State Rankings For Women-Owned Businesses in the U.S.
How does your state rank when it comes to women-owned small businesses? What’s the best way to measure success for female entrepreneurs?
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Businesses owned and operated by women are a rapidly growing part of the U.S. economy. Over the last 20 years, the number of businesses that are owned (at least 51 percent) by a female partner has shot up by 114 percent. By comparison, overall business growth hovers around 44 percent. These women-owned businesses have created 9 million jobs and generated an estimated $1.7 trillion in revenue over that same timeframe.
With that in mind, MaxFilings set out to determine which states have been the best for women-owned businesses. This isn’t necessarily an easy thing to quantify. While it’s true that the raw volume of women-owned businesses is usually more a reflection of a state’s population size, there are other important factors—like tax structure to the business lending environment—that affect all businesses equally, regardless of their ownership.
There are two rankings, though, that can give us a good sense of how female entrepreneurs are faring. The first is the percentage of women-owned businesses on a per-capita basis. The other is how fast these businesses are growing.
So without further ado, here are the 10 best and worst states based on the metrics of per-capita female business ownership and growth rate of women-owned businesses. At the end is a chart showing all 50 states (plus the District of Columbia) and how they rank in both categories.
Best & worst states by percentage of female business ownership
Top 10: States with the highest percentage of female business owners
| State | Percentage |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | 42.7% |
| Georgia | 40.5% |
| Maryland | 39.3% |
| New Mexico | 39.0% |
| Florida | 38.5% |
| Mississippi | 37.9% |
| Hawaii | 37.5% |
| California | 37.2% |
| Michigan | 36.8% |
| Alabama | 36.8% |
Bottom 10: States with the lowest percentage of female business owners
| State | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 31.2% |
| Wyoming | 31.0% |
| Wisconsin | 30.9% |
| Vermont | 30.9% |
| Idaho | 30.8% |
| Utah | 30.3% |
| Maine | 30.1% |
| North Dakota | 29.8% |
| New Hampshire | 29.3% |
| South Dakota | 29.2% |
Best & worst states by growth rate of women-owned businesses
The growth rate rank is calculated by averaging each state’s percentage of revenue and employment growth of women-owned businesses.
Top 10: States with the highest growth of women-owned businesses
| State | Growth Rate |
|---|---|
| Maine | 136.5% |
| North Dakota | 103.5% |
| South Dakota | 78.6% |
| Iowa | 59.7% |
| Wyoming | 46.6% |
| Alaska | 46.4% |
| Texas | 46.2% |
| Minnesota | 45.2% |
| Indiana | 38.2% |
| Delaware | 36.8% |
Bottom 10: States with the lowest growth of women-owned businesses
| State | Growth Rate |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 12.8% |
| Louisiana | 12.3% |
| South Carolina | 11.1% |
| Connecticut | 10.5% |
| Illinois | 8.0% |
| Arizona | 7.3% |
| Nebraska | 3.6% |
| New Hampshire | 2.5% |
| Mississippi | -0.7% |
| Arkansas | -4.2% |
Overall ranking of women-owned business friendly states
| STATE | PER CAPITA RANKING | GROWTH RATE RANKING | COMBINED RANKING |
| Texas | 12 | 8 | 1 |
| Maryland | 3 | 20 | 2 |
| Georgia | 2 | 22 | 3 |
| Virginia | 17 | 13 | 4 |
| Hawaii | 7 | 24 | 5 |
| New York | 18 | 14 | 6 |
| Indiana | 25 | 9 | 7 |
| Michigan | 9 | 27 | 8 |
| New Mexico | 4 | 32 | 9 |
| Alaska | 32 | 5 | 10 |
| Colorado | 22 | 15 | 11 |
| Tennessee | 21 | 17 | 12 |
| Washington | 23 | 16 | 13 |
| Alabama | 10 | 31 | 14 |
| Minnesota | 34 | 7 | 15 |
| District of Columbia | 1 | 41 | 16 |
| Iowa | 39 | 3 | 17 |
| Oregon | 16 | 26 | 18 |
| Florida | 5 | 40 | 19 |
| Rhode Island | 35 | 10 | 20 |
| California | 8 | 39 | 21 |
| Nevada | 15 | 33 | 22 |
| Wyoming | 43 | 6 | 23 |
| Delaware | 31 | 19 | 24 |
| Maine | 48 | 2 | 25 |
| North Carolina | 20 | 30 | 26 |
| North Dakota | 49 | 1 | 27 |
| Louisiana | 14 | 37 | 28 |
| Montana | 41 | 12 | 29 |
| West Virginia | 24 | 29 | 30 |
| Kansas | 33 | 21 | 31 |
| Oklahoma | 36 | 18 | 32 |
| South Dakota | 51 | 4 | 33 |
| Mississippi | 6 | 50 | 34 |
| Illinois | 11 | 46 | 35 |
| Utah | 47 | 11 | 36 |
| Arizona | 13 | 47 | 37 |
| Missouri | 27 | 35 | 38 |
| South Carolina | 19 | 43 | 39 |
| Kentucky | 37 | 28 | 40 |
| Ohio | 26 | 42 | 41 |
| Vermont | 45 | 23 | 42 |
| Idaho | 46 | 25 | 43 |
| Massachusetts | 28 | 44 | 44 |
| Connecticut | 30 | 45 | 45 |
| New Jersey | 38 | 38 | 46 |
| Pennsylvania | 42 | 36 | 47 |
| Wisconsin | 44 | 34 | 48 |
| Arkansas | 29 | 51 | 49 |
| Nebraska | 40 | 48 | 50 |
| New Hampshire | 50 | 49 | 51 |
Data sources:
- Data for the percentage of female business ownership map and charts taken from U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 Survey of Business Owners.
- Data for the growth rate percentage of women-businesses map and charts taken from the 2016 American Express OPEN State of Women-owned Businesses Report.
MaxFilings assumes no responsibility for inaccuracies or for changes in such information that may occur after publication.
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