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Barbara Weltman

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Women-Owned Businesses in 2025

March 4, 2025 / By Barbara Weltman

Women-Owned BusinessesMarch is Women’s History Month, which is a great time to consider the impact of women in businesses. According to a Wells Fargo’s 2024 Impact of Women-Owned Businesses  report, women-owned businesses are forming businesses, increasing revenue, and employing more people faster than men. Here’s a deep dive into the facts about women-owned businesses today.

Women-owned businesses in general

According to the report references above:

  • There are over 14 million women-owned businesses
  • Of all U.S. businesses, 39.1% are women-owned businesses. This is up from about 26% in 2000, and about 5% in 1975 (the year that the National Association of Women Business Owners was formed).
  • Women-owned businesses generate $2.7 trillion in revenue (5.8% of total firm revenue nationally)
  • Women-owned businesses employ over 12 million individuals (9.2% of total employees)

But the picture of women-owned businesses isn’t completely rosy:

  • Men-owned businesses typically have average revenue that’s 4 times what women-owned businesses earn.
  • Women-owned businesses still face challenges in accessing capital needed for growth
  • Many owners are mothers who have to deal with the lack of affordable, qualify childcare.

$1M+women-owned businesses

Wells Fargo reports that there were 272,567 million-dollar-plus women-owned businesses in 2024. They generated $2.2 trillion in revenue and represent:

  • 9% of all women-owned businesses
  • 2% of women-owned employers
  • 7% of all $1M+ employers

Types of women-owned businesses

According to the 2024 Impact of Women-Owned Businesses report referenced earlier, it used to be that women owners tended to be found in three industries: essential services (e.g., child- or eldercare), social assistance, and education services. Today, women are diversifying into all industries. Nearly half of all women-owned businesses today can be found in four industries: other services (hair and nail salons; pet care, laundries; dry cleaners); professional/scientific/technical services (legal; bookkeeping; consulting); administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (office administration; staffing agencies; security and surveillance services); and healthcare and social assistance (physicians; mental health practitioners; child daycare and home care providers). There are women-owned businesses in every industry.

Even though the numbers don’t show it, women have founded or co-founded some of the leading online businesses, including:

  • Melanie Perkins (Canva)
  • Julia Hartz (Eventbrite)
  • Caterina Fake (FlickR)
  • Whitney Wolfe Herd (Bumble)

And you probably know that women—past and present—have a significant presence in the entertainment (Oprah; Dolly Paron; Rihanna; Reese Witherspoon; Kim Kardashian; Selena Gomez), fashion (Sara Blakely; Coco Chanel; Tory Burch; Anita Dongre; Sophia Amoruso), and cosmetics (Elizabeth Arden; Bobbi Brown; Madam C.J. Walker; Estee Lauder; Kylie Jenner) industries. And there are so many others: Jennifer Garner (Once Upon a Farm); Bethenny Frankel (Skinnygirl; BStrong; Forever Young); Jessica Alba (The Honest Co.); and many, many more.

Where to start a business today

Women thinking about starting a business might consider location—which state is best? According to Printful, the top states dominated by female business owners are: Florida (I’m one of them), Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, and Oregon. But the states where women-owned businesses have revenue over $1 million are California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois.

Final thoughts

I agree with Katharine Graham, publisher of The Washington Post who grew the company’s revenue by over $1 billion during her tenure and expanded it into a global media conglomerate, who said “to love what you do and feel like it matters—how could anything be more fun?”

The SBA has links to resources for women-owned businesses to help launch and grow their activities.

To find more information about women-owned businesses, see this list of blogs

Tags women business owners women in business women-owned businesses Women's History Month

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