From
the U.S. Census Website
Women-Owned
Businesses Grew Twice the National Average
The number of women-owned businesses grew 20 percent between
1997 and 2002, twice the national average for all businesses,
according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report. The nearly 6.5
million businesses generated more than $940 billion in revenue,
up 15 percent from 1997.
The report, 2002 Survey of Business Owners: Women-Owned Firms,
[PDF] provides a more complete portrait of these businesses
following an initial sketch of all firms released last July.
The new data provides more information at the state, metropolitan,
county and city levels as well as by kind of business.
Women owned nearly 30 percent of nonfarm businesses in the United
States in 2002. While 14 percent of women-owned firms employed
more than 7.1 million people, the vast majority of businesses
owned by women (nearly 5.6 million) had no employees.
Other highlights:
In
2002, nearly 1-in-3 women-owned firms operated in health care
and social assistance, and other services, such as personal
services, and repair and maintenance. They owned 72 percent
of social assistance businesses and just over half of nursing
and residential care facilities.
Wholesale
and retail trade accounted for 38.3 percent of women-owned business
revenue.
There
were 117,069 women-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or
more.
There
were 7,240 women-owned firms with 100 employees or more, generating
$275 billion in gross receipts.
States
with the fastest rates of growth for women-owned firms between
1997 and 2002 were Nevada (43 percent), Georgia (35 percent),
Florida (29 percent) and New York (28 percent).
Counties
with the highest number of women-owned firms were Los Angeles
County, Calif. (265,919); Cook County, Ill. (130,418); Miami-Dade
County, Fla. (88,173); New York County, N.Y. (86,364); and Harris
County, Texas (86,042).
The 2002 Survey of Business Owners (SBO) defines women-owned
businesses as privately held firms in which women own 51 percent
or more of the interest or stock of the business. The 2002 data
show that in addition to the nearly 6.5 million majority women-owned
firms, there were almost 2.7 million equally male/female-owned
firms with $731.4 billion in receipts. Separate reports on minority-owned
businesses will be issued over the coming months.
