States With The Most Successful Female Business Owners
The number of female business owners in the US has grown an impressive 16% over the last five years, doubling the growth rate of male-owned businesses at just 8%.
The average earnings for female-owned businesses has also increased 21% over the same time period, while male business owners have seen a more modest 16% growth in earnings.
But which states are home to the most successful female entrepreneurs?
To determine this, we considered four key metrics: average earnings of female-owned businesses, percentage of female business owners earning over $100,000, growth rate of female-owned businesses, and the earnings disparity between male and female-owned businesses.
Connecticut, New Jersey, and Nevada are the states with the most successful female business owners.
Iowa, South Dakota, and Maine have seen the least success among female entrepreneurs.
New Mexico, Vermont, and West Virginia are the states with the smallest earnings gap between male and female business owners.
The District of Columbia, Idaho, and Iowa have the largest earnings gaps.
Beauty salons, real estate, and home service businesses are the most popular industries with female entrepreneurs.
Water and HVAC services, electrical services, and logging are the least popular industries for female business owners.
Female business owners outearn their male counterparts in seven different industries, including spectator sports, newspaper publishing, and car wash services.
Despite medicine and dentistry being two of the highest earning industries for female entrepreneurs, they still earn significantly less than male business owners in these fields.
States With The Most Successful Female Business Owners
- 1. Connecticut73
- 2. New Jersey66
- 3. Nevada66
- 4. California66
- 5. Massachusetts65
- 47. Alabama21
- 48. Kentucky20
- 49. Maine20
- 50. South Dakota19
- 51. Iowa18
Source: American Community Survey
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Connecticut
Connecticut leads with the highest average earnings for female entrepreneurs at $72,222 and nearly 13% of women surpassing the $100,000 income mark.
Despite a notable pay gap of $38,479 compared to men, female-owned businesses are thriving with 20% growth in ownership over the last five years.
New Jersey
New Jersey has the second highest percentage of female business owners earning over $100,000 at 14.5%, surpassed only by the District of Columbia. Average pay is also high at $63,686, and the number of female business owners has grown at a rate of 25%.
However, the state faces a relatively large earnings gap, with women in business earning $40,107 less than their male counterparts.
Nevada
Nevada has seen a remarkable 30% growth in female business ownership over the last five years, which is the most significant among the top states.
Female entrepreneurs in Nevada earn an average of $60,313, which is slightly lower than in other leading states. However, the relatively small earnings gap of $28,867 between men and women helps boost the state's ranking.
A healthy 13.7% of female business owners earn over the $100,000 mark.
California
In California, female entrepreneurs earn an average of $65,698, with a notable 13.7% earning over $100,000 annually. Similar to Nevada, California has a relatively small pay gap at $32,472.
Despite a modest 6% growth in female-owned businesses over the past five years, California maintains a relatively high percentage of female business owners compared to other states.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts boasts strong average earnings for female business owners at $65,006, and 14.4% of women business owners earn over $100,000 annually. Growth in female-owned businesses is in line with average at 16%.
The earnings gap remains a challenge, with women earning $43,221 less than their male counterparts, which is the largest pay gap in the top five states.
One of the key metrics we looked at in terms of success of female entrepreneurs in each state was the earnings gap between women and men. The below table highlights the five states with the largest and smallest earnings gaps.
| State | Difference In Earnings Between Male And Female Business Owners | Average Earnings For Female Business Owners | Average Earnings For Male Business Owners | Percentage Difference In Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico | $16,000 | $56,035 | $72,035 | 22% |
| Vermont | $16,289 | $57,552 | $73,841 | 22% |
| West Virginia | $23,442 | $44,059 | $67,501 | 35% |
| Mississippi | $25,120 | $48,465 | $73,585 | 34% |
| Arizona | $27,471 | $60,132 | $87,603 | 31% |
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Pennsylvania | $44,934 | $48,910 | $93,844 | 48% |
| Kentucky | $45,271 | $43,075 | $88,346 | 51% |
| Iowa | $45,289 | $42,047 | $87,336 | 52% |
| Idaho | $52,838 | $44,726 | $97,564 | 54% |
| District of Columbia | $64,767 | $66,412 | $131,179 | 49% |
Now let's take a look at the industry breakdown for female-owned businesses.
Most Popular Businesses For Female Business Owners
The most popular business models among women are typically in traditionally female niches such as beauty and childcare. Women own over 90% of beauty salons and over 95% of childcare businesses in the US.
Construction is also popular with female business owners, though they only account for 8% of total construction businesses.
The three least popular businesses for women are water and utility services, electrical services, and logging.
| Industry | Female Business Owners Average Earnings | Number Of Female Business Owners | Male Business Owners Average Earnings | Number Of Male Business Owners | Difference In Female And Male Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty Salons | $35,486 | 531,359 | $49,903 | 56,204 | $14,417 |
| Real Estate Leasing | $88,031 | 479,178 | $134,513 | 418,531 | $46,482 |
| Home Services (e.g. pet sitting, gardening) | $27,012 | 372,863 | $51,380 | 205,691 | $24,368 |
| Child Day Care Services | $31,709 | 331,457 | $79,879 | 15,093 | $48,170 |
| Restaurants and Food Services | $32,328 | 326,568 | $59,635 | 346,485 | $27,307 |
| Consulting Services | $97,163 | 282,851 | $139,350 | 428,106 | $42,187 |
| Construction Services | $44,410 | 260,560 | $64,706 | 2,838,838 | $20,296 |
| Nail Salons and Personal Care | $34,934 | 199,061 | $46,820 | 72,613 | $11,886 |
| Specialty Schools and Educational Services | $40,834 | 198,777 | $56,895 | 108,365 | $16,061 |
| Independent Artists and Performers | $56,857 | 189,807 | $79,231 | 218,850 | $22,374 |
Highest Earning Industries For Female Business Owners
The highest earning industries for female business owners are in the medical, financial, and legal fields. Despite the high earnings, women in these industries still earn less than half of what their male counterparts earn.
The lowest earning industries for female business owners are courier services, commercial bakeries, museums or historical sites, and taxi or limo services.
| Industry | Female Business Owners Average Earnings | Number Of Female Business Owners | Male Business Owners Average Earnings | Number Of Male Business Owners | Difference In Female And Male Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Offices | $150,574 | 106,702 | $303,149 | 141,186 | $152,575 |
| Dental Offices | $88,899 | 78,984 | $221,401 | 89,876 | $132,502 |
| Credit and Financing | $77,690 | 25,223 | $208,961 | 45,353 | $131,271 |
| Hospitals | $56,444 | 44,217 | $172,772 | 22,959 | $116,328 |
| Drug and Chemical Wholesalers | $43,989 | 5,475 | $158,588 | 6,571 | $114,599 |
| Financial Investment Services | $116,178 | 47,219 | $219,410 | 169,462 | $103,232 |
| Commercial Leasing | $36,806 | 2,544 | $118,682 | 7,588 | $81,876 |
| Veterinary Services | $85,349 | 33,005 | $166,964 | 23,337 | $81,615 |
| Legal Services | $113,849 | 154,047 | $194,759 | 307,517 | $80,910 |
Industries Where Female Business Owners Outearn Males
Male business owners outearn female business owners in most industries, but there are seven industries in the US where females outearn males.
| Industry | Female Business Owners Average Earnings | Number Of Female Business Owners | Male Business Owners Average Earnings | Number Of Male Business Owners | Difference In Female And Male Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sports Entertainment | $109,175 | 7,475 | $72,924 | 22,131 | $-36,251 |
| Newspaper Publishers | $65,025 | 4,499 | $45,383 | 6,466 | $-19,642 |
| Recyclable Material Wholesalers | $77,628 | 2,276 | $63,209 | 10,159 | $-14,419 |
| Car Wash Services | $53,588 | 5,415 | $41,446 | 46,926 | $-12,142 |
| Metal Manufacturing | $94,274 | 5,397 | $83,973 | 26,666 | $-10,301 |
| Electronics Repair | $51,096 | 2,490 | $47,107 | 28,967 | $-3,989 |
| Plastic Product Manufacturing | $83,345 | 2,793 | $80,589 | 8,295 | $-2,756 |
These industries aren’t as popular with women as they are with men, but the women that have chosen to venture into these fields are earning well.
The leading state in terms of average earnings in sports entertainment for women is California, while in newspaper publishing it's Colorado.
The most significant earnings disparities between male and female business owners are found in medical offices and dental offices, with an earnings gap of $153,000 and $132,000 respectively.
In order to determine the states with the most successful entrepreneurs, Osum compared 4 key metrics for each state.
- Average earnings of female-owned businesses
- Percentage of female business owners earning over $100,000
- 5 year growth rate of female-owned businesses
- Earnings disparity between male and female-owned businesses
Each metric was normalized and the values scaled between 1 and 0.
We then determined each state's weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score. The resulting scores were used to rank the sample.
Data was collected using ACS 1-Year Estimates Public Use Microdata Sample from 2022 and 2017. The only exception to this is data on % of women earning over $100,000 which was collected from the same survey (the 2022 ACS 1-Year Estimates), but was accessed via IPUMS.
For the industries, we removed any industries where the total number of businesses across the US was less than 10,000. “SRV-Private Households” was also removed from the data because this isn’t a traditional business model and there are no earnings to report.
Full data can be accessed upon request.
