March being Women’s History Month, so I thought it would be a good time to review some recent stats about women-owned businesses.
Biz2Credit released its Women-Owned Business Study showing that the average Annual Revenue for women-owned businesses increased 15.5%, from $391,582 in 2022 to $452,446 in 2023.
However, the gender revenue gap still exists. In 2023, there was a 34% average revenue gap between women-owned and men-owned businesses, equal to $237,503. Rohit Arora, CEO and co-founder of Biz2Credit notes that women-owned companies still make about 66 cents for every dollar a male-owned business earns.
The average earnings for women-owned businesses (annual revenue—operating expenses) were $87,634 in 2023, basically unchanged from 2022. For businesses owned by men, the average earnings in 2023 were $147,522, a 3% decrease from 2022.
Businesses for everyone cost more to operate last year than in 2022. For women, the average operating expenses increased 20%, from $303,629 in 2022 to $364,812 in 2023. Men-owned businesses experienced a 12% increase.
Credit scores varied as well. Men business owners had higher credit scores (657) than women entrepreneurs (640). This may explain why women-owned businesses didn’t receive as much funding as those owned by men, with women receiving $52,779 compared to men getting $74,544 in funding. The highest number of funding applications came from women in Florida, California, and Texas.
Overall, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, women-owned businesses generated about $21 trillion in receipts and had 10.5 million employees for an annual payroll of $499.4 billion. And the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) Annual Report says there are 14 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., accounting for 39.1% of all businesses in the country. This is an increase of 13.6% from 2019 to 2023, demonstrating that women-owned firms emerged in relatively good shape from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media and custom content company focusing on small business and entrepreneurship. Email Rieva at rieva@smallbusinesscurrents.com, follow her on Twitter @Rieva, and visit her website SmallBusinessCurrents.com to get the scoop on business trends and sign up for Rieva’s free Currents newsletter.
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