Women own more than 280,000 Pennsylvania firms

Pennsylvania ranks in the Top 10 list of states with the greatest number of women-owned firms, according to American Express OPEN State of Women-Owned Business.

The report showed analyzed data recently released from the U.S. Census Bureau. While Pennsylvania ranks seventh on the list, it is behind the national average in sales for women-owned businesses.

Pennsylvania has an estimated 282,600 women-owned firms, employing 297,000 and attributing to roughly $49.4 billion, according to the report.

Of businesses owned by women nationwide, 693,500 are real estate/rental/leasing businesses and 25 percent of all real estate firms are owned by women.

“This information is important for us to track so we know what’s going on with smaller-owned firms. It’s important to understand the differences and pay attention to them as a specific group,” said Julie Weeks, American Express OPEN advisor and author of the report.

“What we’ve discovered is that women are starting businesses at a faster rate and they manage their businesses differently than men do,” she said. “Women-owned companies are less linear in growth, they are more inclusive and they’re apt to offer job sharing opportunities.”

Weeks said one of the most significant findings was that women-owned companies are growing in number and revenue up until they reach the $1 million mark or 100 employees. “There’s been an assumption that women-owned companies weren’t growing as fast but that’s not true. Up until now our support has been helping women get into businesses but we may now need to help them overcome other hurdles to keep their businesses growing,” she said.

The unique analysis, reported by industry, revenue and employment size at the national and state levels, shares a new and nuanced investigation into the growth trends among the 8.1 million women-owned enterprises over the past 14 years. 

Nationally, the number of women-owned businesses has increased 50 percent since 1997. Pennsylvania is ranked 27^th (39.2 percent) in growth of number of firms over the past 14 years and 36^th (45.3 percent) in growth of firm revenue between 1997 and 2011. 

Below is a table comparing Pennsylvania’s women-owned firms data to the national numbers.