In 2007, women owned 7.8 million businesses and accounted for 28.7% of all businesses nationwide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners. These companies generated $1.2 trillion in receipts, about 3.9% of all business receipts nationwide. These firms had a major impact on the nation’s economy, employing more than 7.6 million workers.
In 2007, businesses owned by men numbered 13.9 million (accounting for 51.3% of all businesses) and generated $8.5 trillion in receipts (28.2% of all receipts).
Businesses owned equally by men and women numbered 4.6 million firms (17% of all businesses) and generated $1.3 trillion in receipts (4.2% of all receipts).
The percentage of women-owned businesses was fairly constant from state to state. In every state, women owned at least 20% of the businesses and the percentage exceeded 30% in several states.
The three states with the largest number of women-owned businesses in 2007 were California, Texas and New York. California had 1 million women-owned businesses, or 13.3% of all women-owned businesses in the U.S. Texas had 610,162 women-owned businesses, or 7.8% of all women-owned businesses in the U.S., and New York had 594,421 women-owned businesses, or 7.6%.