The number of women who own the nation's privately-held businesses, presently at 28 percent of such businesses, is growing at twice the rate of all firms, according to a new report from Center for Women’s Business Research.
The center projects the number of majority-owned, privately-held women-owned firms will stand at 6.2 million by 2002, and that sales generated by these businesses will have grown 40 percent between 1997-2002. Employment in women-owned businesses also is growing at a rate 1.5 times the national average.
Sponsored by Wells Fargo, the Center’s two most recent reports, Women-Owned Businesses in 2002: Trends in the U.S. and 50 States and Women-Owned Businesses in 2002: Trends in the Top 50 Metropolitan Areas analyze both published and unpublished data provided by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and present the most up-to-date information currently available on the country's women-owned businesses.
The ten fastest growing states based on 1997 to 2002 growth in the number of firms, employment and sales are: 1) Idaho and Wyoming; 3) Utah; 4) Nevada; 5) Arizona; 6) South Dakota; 7) New Mexico; 8) Montana and Oregon; and 10) Alaska. The top 10 ranked states based on an average of number of firms, employment, and sales are: 1) California; 2) Texas; 3) Florida, Illinois, and New York; 6) Ohio; 7) Michigan and Pennsylvania; 9) North Carolina; and 10) New Jersey.
The analysis shows that more than half of the number of firms, employment and sales of women-owned firms in the U.S. are located in the top 50 metropolitan areas. The far west sees the greatest concentrations of women-owned businesses: nearly 35 percent of all businesses in Portland, Ore., are women-owned, Seattle (32.5%), Oakland (32.5%), Sacramento (30.8%) and San Francisco (30.8%) The fastest growing metropolitan areas during the same period are: 1) Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah; 2) Las Vegas, Nev.-Ariz.; 3) Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.; 4) Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. and St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.; 6) Portland-Vancouver, Ore.-Wash.; 7) Nashville, Tenn.; and 8) Austin-San Marcos, Dallas, Fort Worth-Arlington, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas (all tied).
The full reports are available for purchase from the Center for Women's Business Research. PDF summaries for each state and the 50 largest metro areas are available to download from: http://www.nfwbo.org/StateMetroReports.html