No. 02 - 02
November 2002

Women Business Owners

Women-owned businesses are privately held firms in which women own 51 percent or more of the firm. The U.S. Census Bureau's latest Survey of Women-Owned Business Enterprises (SWOBE) reported that women owned 5,417,034 U.S. non-farm businesses in 1997. Women-owned businesses made up 26.0 percent of the nation's 20.8 million non-farm businesses, employed 7.1 million paid workers, and generated $818.7 billion in sales and receipts.

For businesses owned by minority women, Hispanic women owned 337,708 firms; black women owned 312,884 firms; Asian and Pacific Islander women owned 247,966 firms; and American Indian and Alaska Native women owned 53,593 firms. White non-Hispanic women owned 4,487,589 million firms. Figure 1 shows the percentage composition of minority women-owned firms. In addition, there were 451,476 minority firms that were equally male-/female- owned.

Figure 1
Percent Distribution of Minority Women-Owned Businesses, 1997
Text Version

Over half (55 percent) of women-owned firms were in the services industry in 1997 (see Figure 2). Within the services industry, women were most likely to operate firms in business services (769,250 firms) and personal services (634,225 firms). The combined sales and receipts for these two sectors totaled $78.3 billion.

Figure 2
Percent Distribution of Women-Owned Firms by Industry Division, 1997
Text Version

Women-owned businesses had total sales and receipts of $818.7 billion in 1997. The four industries that produced the largest total revenues for women-owned businesses in 1997 were wholesale trade, services, retail trade, and manufacturing. Women-owned firms operating in wholesale trade--durable and non-durable goods--recorded receipts of $188.5 billion. Those operating in services--for example, hotels and other lodging places; personal services; business services; auto repair, services, and parking; miscellaneous repair services; motion pictures; amusement and recreation services; health services; legal services; and educational services--had sales of $186.2 billion. Women-owned firms in retail trade had sales of $152.0 billion and those in manufacturing had sales of $113.7 billion.

Nearly three-fourths (72 percent) of minority women-owned firms operated in the services (531,532 firms) and retail trade (133,924 firms) industries.

Firms owned by minority women recorded total sales and receipts of $84.7 billion in 1997 (see Table 1). Those owned by Asian and Pacific Islander women earned $38.1 billion; Hispanic women, $27.3 billion; black women, $13.6 billion; and American Indian and Alaska Native women, $6.8 billion.³

The five U. S. cities with the largest number of women-owned firms in 1997 were New York, NY (167,898 firms); Los Angeles, CA (89,619 firms); Chicago, IL (47,720 firms); Houston, TX (41,094 firms); and San Diego, CA (26,895 firms).

The women-owned businesses in California, New York, Texas, and Florida accounted for 33 percent of the nation's women-owned firms. The five states with the largest number of women-owned firms in 1997 were California (700,513 firms), New York (394,014 firms), Texas (381,453 firms), Florida (337,811 firms), and Illinois (239,725 firms).

Endnotes:

^1. U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Women-Owned Business Enterprises, 1997 Economic Census.
^2. U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Minority-Owned Business Enterprises, 1997 Economic Census. Detail numbers may not add to total because of rounding and because a Hispanic firm may be of any race and, therefore, may be included in more than one minority group.
^3.U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Women-Owned Business Enterprises, 1997 Economic Census.
^4.Detail numbers may not add to total because of rounding and because a Hispanic firm may be of any race and, therefore, may be included in more than one minority group.