Women-owned business statistics at a glance
Women-owned businesses are a large part of the U.S. business landscape, but the most useful way to read the numbers is to separate scale from share, payroll from revenue, and employer firms from nonemployer firms. The statistics below show that women-owned firms are numerous, economically significant, and concentrated in a few service-heavy industries.
Table of contents
- Fast facts
- Scale and share
- Revenue, payroll, and workers
- Industry concentration
- State patterns
- Ownership mix
- What the long-run trend shows
- How to read these statistics
Fast facts
- Women-owned employer firms accounted for about 1.3 million of 5.9 million U.S. employer firms in 2022, or 22.3% (Census Bureau 2024 ABS press release).
- In the same 2022 release, minority-owned firms made up 22.6% of employer firms, putting women-owned firms at nearly the same share (Census Bureau 2024 ABS press release).
- Women-owned firms were reported alongside 273,542 veteran-owned firms in the 2022 employer-firm release, making women-owned firms more than four times as numerous as veteran-owned firms (Census Bureau 2024 ABS press release).
- In 2018, women-owned employer firms numbered 1.1 million and represented 19.9% of all U.S. employer firms (Census Bureau 2021 story).
- Women-owned employer firms reported nearly $1.8 trillion in sales, shipments, receipts, or revenue in 2018 and employed over 10.1 million workers (Census Bureau 2021 story).
- Average annual payroll per employee at women-owned firms was $38,238 in 2018, compared with a national average of $54,114 for all firms (Census Bureau 2021 story).
- Women-owned firms averaged $1.6 million in sales, shipments, or revenue in 2018, while male-owned firms averaged $3.2 million (Census Bureau 2021 story).
The core pattern is simple: women-owned businesses are numerous, spread across many sectors, and economically meaningful even when their average firm size is smaller than male-owned firms (Census Bureau 2021 story).
Scale and share
The clearest headline is that women-owned firms are a major share of the U.S. business base. The 2022 employer-firm release placed them at 22.3% of all employer firms, or about 1.3 million out of 5.9 million employer firms (Census Bureau 2024 ABS press release).
That share matters because it helps frame women-owned firms as a structural part of the economy, not a niche category. The same release put minority-owned firms at 22.6% of employer firms, which shows women-owned firms operating at roughly the same scale as another major ownership category (Census Bureau 2024 ABS press release).
The longer time series in the statistics also shows that the category has been large for years. In 2018, women-owned employer firms numbered 1.1 million and made up 19.9% of all employer firms (Census Bureau 2021 story). The SBA fact sheet echoed that scale, saying women-owned businesses numbered about 12 million in total in 2017 when employer and nonemployer firms were combined (SBA Small Business Facts 2021).
Employer firms versus nonemployer firms
This distinction matters because women-owned businesses are not all the same kind of business.
- Women-owned employer businesses numbered 1.1 million in the SBA fact sheet (SBA Small Business Facts 2021).
- About 90% of all women-owned businesses had no employees in that fact sheet (SBA Small Business Facts 2021).
- Women-owned nonemployer firms totaled 10.86 million in the SBA 2023 infographic (SBA Women Ownership Statistics Infographic).
That mix tells you that most women-owned businesses are solo or very small operations, while a smaller employer segment carries a disproportionate amount of payroll and employment. The nonemployer base is important for understanding entrepreneurial breadth, but the employer base is where the largest worker and payroll figures appear.
Revenue, payroll, and workers
Women-owned employer firms generated nearly $1.8 trillion in sales, shipments, receipts, or revenue in 2018 and employed over 10.1 million workers (Census Bureau 2021 story). Those two numbers are the most useful scale markers if you want to understand economic footprint rather than just firm count.
The same data show that women-owned employer firms generated $388.1 billion in annual payroll in 2018 (Census Bureau 2021 story). That gives a clearer sense of the labor income flowing through women-owned firms, not just the top-line sales figure.
A compact comparison
| Measure | Women-owned firms | Comparison point | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer-firm share, 2022 | 22.3% | Minority-owned firms: 22.6% | Census Bureau 2024 ABS press release |
| Employer-firms, 2018 | 1.1 million | 19.9% of all employer firms | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| Revenue, 2018 | Nearly $1.8 trillion | Male-owned firms averaged $3.2 million per firm | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| Workers, 2018 | Over 10.1 million | Health care and social assistance employed nearly 2.0 million | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| Annual payroll, 2018 | $388.1 billion | National average payroll per employee: $54,114 | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| Nonemployer firms | 10.86 million | About 90% of all women-owned businesses had no employees | SBA Women Ownership Statistics Infographic; SBA Small Business Facts 2021 |
The payroll-per-worker statistic is especially revealing. Average annual payroll per employee at women-owned firms was $38,238 in 2018, while the national average annual payroll per employee for all firms was $54,114 (Census Bureau 2021 story). That gap does not mean the firms are unimportant; it means the distribution of firm types, sectors, and scale is different.
The same story also says women-owned firms had statistically lower average annual payroll per employee than all firms in nine of the 20 ABS-covered sectors (Census Bureau 2021 story). That points to sector mix as a key part of the explanation.
Sales and payroll in context
Women-owned firms averaged $1.6 million in sales, shipments, or revenue in 2018, while male-owned firms averaged $3.2 million (Census Bureau 2021 story). That is a straightforward 2-to-1 gap in average revenue per firm.
At the same time, women-owned firms still produced large aggregate totals because there were so many of them. That is the main statistical tension in the category: average firm size is smaller, but the total number of firms is large enough to create major economy-wide totals.
Industry concentration
The statistics show that women-owned firms are concentrated in service-heavy industries, especially professional services and health care.
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services accounted for 191,230 women-owned firms in 2018, which was about 16.8% of all women-owned firms (Census Bureau 2021 story). Health Care and Social Assistance employed nearly 2.0 million workers at women-owned firms in 2018 and represented about 19.4% of all employees at women-owned firms (Census Bureau 2021 story).
The SBA fact sheet gives a similar picture. It says women businesses were concentrated in professional, scientific, and technical services and in health care and social assistance, while the top employment industries for women-owned businesses were health care, accommodation and food services, and administrative and support (SBA Small Business Facts 2021).
Industry snapshot
| Industry | Women-owned firms or workers | What the number says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 191,230 firms | Largest concentration of women-owned firms in the 2018 story | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | Nearly 2.0 million workers | One of the largest employment engines | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| Accommodation and Food Services | 1,522,579 workers | Major employment sector for women-owned employer businesses | SBA Small Business Facts 2021 |
| Administrative and Support | 1,277,280 workers | Another large labor-intensive sector | SBA Small Business Facts 2021 |
| Retail Trade | 871,369 workers | Material employment base, though not the top sector | SBA Small Business Facts 2021 |
These sectors matter because they help explain both revenue and payroll patterns. Service-heavy industries often rely on labor-intensive operations, and the payroll figures reflect that.
The SBA fact sheet adds a useful concentration measure: the three biggest employment sectors for women-owned businesses - health care, accommodation and food services, and administrative and support - accounted for 47% of total industry employment by women-owned businesses (SBA Small Business Facts 2021). That is a strong sign that a handful of industries dominate employment even though women-owned businesses exist across many sectors.
State patterns
The geographic picture is uneven. Some states have especially high shares of women-owned firms, while others show higher payroll per employee or larger absolute counts.
Hawaii had women-owned firms accounting for 24.7% of all firms, Virginia had 23.7%, and Colorado had 22.2% (Census Bureau 2021 story). Those percentages show that women-owned firms can be especially prominent in some state business ecosystems.
California stands out on absolute scale. It had 149,927 women-owned firms in 2018, those firms employed over 1.3 million workers, and they generated $57.4 billion in annual payroll (Census Bureau 2021 story).
Selected state comparisons
| State or jurisdiction | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 24.7% of all firms were women-owned | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| Virginia | 23.7% of all firms were women-owned | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| Colorado | 22.2% of all firms were women-owned | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| California | 149,927 women-owned firms | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| California | Over 1.3 million workers at women-owned firms | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| California | $57.4 billion in annual payroll | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| District of Columbia | $57,031 average annual payroll per employee | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| Montana | Women-owned firms accounted for 11.0% of all employees | Census Bureau 2021 story |
The District of Columbia is also notable because women-owned firms there reported average annual payroll per employee of $57,031, which was above the national women-owned-firm average of $38,238 (Census Bureau 2021 story). That suggests a local mix of industries and firm types that supports higher pay per employee.
Ownership mix
Women-owned firms are not a single demographic group. The statistics show that ownership patterns differ across race, ethnicity, and veteran status.
White women ran 82.8% of women-owned firms in 2018 (Census Bureau 2021 story). Non-minority owners ran 74.6% of women-owned firms, non-Hispanic owners ran 92.4%, and non-veterans ran 98.9% (Census Bureau 2021 story).
Those figures are useful because they show how strongly women-owned firms tilt toward non-Hispanic, non-veteran ownership in the reported data. They also show why a single headline percentage is never enough to understand the category.
Race, ethnicity, and veteran status
- Hispanic women-owned firms numbered nearly 1.6 million in 2017 and reported $34.7 billion in sales (Census Bureau 2021 story).
- Minority women-owned firms numbered nearly 3.7 million in 2017 and reported $83.8 billion in sales (Census Bureau 2021 story).
- Veteran women-owned firms numbered 142,000 in 2017 and reported $3.1 billion in sales (Census Bureau 2021 story).
These numbers show that women-owned businesses include several very different ownership segments. The subgroups differ sharply in counts and sales totals, which is why comparison across categories should be done carefully.
What the long-run trend shows
The historical figures point to persistent growth over time.
In the older Commerce report, women-owned firms’ share of all private firms rose from 26.5% in 2002 to 29.6% in 2007 (Commerce Department 2009 report). Over the same period, the number of women-owned firms grew from 5.4 million to 7.8 million, an increase of about 44% (Commerce Department 2009 report).
That report also said women-owned firms’ sales rose from $819 billion in 2002 to $1.2 trillion in 2007, a 46% increase (Commerce Department 2009 report). Those are large gains over a relatively short span.
Older benchmark figures
| Year | Women-owned firms | Sales | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 5.4 million | $819 billion | Commerce Department 2009 report |
| 2007 | 7.8 million | $1.2 trillion | Commerce Department 2009 report |
| 2017 | About 12 million women-owned businesses total | $286.1 billion in sales for 10.6 million self-employed women-owned nonemployer firms | Census Bureau 2021 story |
| 2018 | 12,001,410 women-owned businesses | $2.1 trillion in total sales | SBA Women Ownership Statistics Infographic |
The 2007 report also compared women-owned and men-owned firms directly. Average sales per women-owned firm were $153,000, while average sales per men-owned firm were $612,000 (Commerce Department 2009 report). Women-owned firms generated 11% of all sales while representing 30% of all firms in 2007 (Commerce Department 2009 report).
That contrast remains important when reading later figures. Women-owned firms can be numerous without having the same average revenue profile as men-owned firms. The data point is not about deficiency; it is about structural differences in firm size, sector composition, and employer prevalence.
The survival figures in that report add another dimension. From 2002 to 2006, 66% of women-owned firms that were operating in 2002 were still in business in 2006, compared with 72% of men-owned firms (Commerce Department 2009 report). Newly established women-owned businesses had a three-year survival rate of 69.5%, versus 75.1% for newly established men-owned businesses in the Kauffman Firm Survey cited in the report (Commerce Department 2009 report).
How to read these statistics
The safest way to interpret women-owned business statistics is to keep four ideas in mind.
First, count and share are not the same as economic weight. Women-owned firms can represent about one-fifth to nearly one-quarter of employer firms while still producing very large revenue and payroll totals (Census Bureau 2024 ABS press release; Census Bureau 2021 story).
Second, employer firms and nonemployer firms tell different stories. The nonemployer universe is huge, but the employer universe drives most worker and payroll totals (SBA Small Business Facts 2021; SBA Women Ownership Statistics Infographic).
Third, industry mix matters a lot. Women-owned firms are especially prominent in professional services, health care, accommodation and food services, and administrative and support, which helps explain the payroll and revenue patterns (Census Bureau 2021 story; SBA Small Business Facts 2021).
Fourth, subgroup differences are substantial. Race, ethnicity, and veteran status change the shape of the category, so a single average can hide more than it reveals (Census Bureau 2021 story).
Taken together, the statistics show a business segment that is broad, durable, and economically substantial. The exact numbers vary by year and data source, but the larger pattern is stable: women-owned businesses are a major part of U.S. entrepreneurship, and the scale is large enough that small changes in share represent very large numbers of firms, workers, and dollars (Census Bureau 2024 ABS press release; SBA Small Business Facts 2021).