THE 2017 STATE OF WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES REPORT

This is the seventh annual report on the State of Women-Owned Businesses in the United States. The report provides stakeholders in the women’s enterprise development community – media, funders, entrepreneurial support organizations, elected officials, suppliers and customers, and women entrepreneurs themselves – with information and intelligence that can inform practices, policies and advocacy efforts that encourage successful business outcomes. American Express OPEN is proud to provide data recognizing women-owned businesses as one of the economic engines of the U.S. Such data can help unleash this under-tapped engine for creating more jobs, developing additional innovation and building wealth for both the female entrepreneur and her employees. The projections in this report use the most recent (2012) Survey of Business Owners data from the U.S. Census Bureau as their foundation. Numbers are then adjusted each year by the annual gross domestic product estimates as of January 2016, at the national, state, and metropolitan levels, as well as by industry. This 2017 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report takes both long- and shortterm views, examining how women-owned firms, their numbers of employees and their revenues has changed over the past two decades and over the past year. This study examines the periods 1997 to 2017, and 2016 to 2017, looking at trends in the number of firms, employment and revenue.

Entrepreneurship is a key driver of prosperity and competitiveness in the U.S. More can be done to create conditions in which women entrepreneurs will not just survive but thrive. Since 2012, American Express OPEN has provided annual reports tracking how women-owned business numbers are changing. It is the hope of everyone at American Express that the data in this report will be used to support continued growth of women’s entrepreneurship.

Continue reading the American Express Summary of Key Trends.