The Top Cities in America for Women in Business

The number of women in executive roles and women-owned businesses has steadily risen over the last decade, with more than 9.4 million firms owned by females, generating over $1.5 trillion in sales. In fact, one in five companies that earn over $1 million in revenue are now women-owned.

With these numbers only set to rise in the future and with more female CEOs in America than ever before, it’s a great time to be a woman in business. But, where are the best locations for the highest chances of success? ShareFile’s Businesswomen Power City Index has revealed the top 20 cities in the country for women in business, with some surprising results.

The index ranks cities based on several pertinent metrics including women vs. men wage gaps, executive jobs held by women, female-owned businesses, female buying power, and the average income earned by women in the metropolitan areas.

Coming in first place is Baltimore, MD, with a high percentage of women business executives (31%), women-owned businesses (23%), and the best place out of all the cities evaluated for buying power. In second place came Tampa, FL, and our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., was third.

With a population of over 620,000, Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland, and benefits from being centrally located around other thriving metropolitan areas, such as New York City, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia. Almost a quarter of all jobs in the city are in Science, Technology, Maths, and Engineering sectors. Notably, it is home to many highly-reputed companies, such as Under Armour, McCormick & Company, and The Cordish Companies.

Tampa, one of the largest cities in the Sunshine State, managed to bag second place by having a combination of a high percentage of women-owned businesses (22%) and women business executives (31%), followed by a small wage gap between women and men (13%).

Another significant city on this list is Los Angeles, CA, which reportedly has the smallest wage gap between men and women (6.6%), although the city’s buying power lowered its overall score (ranked 48^th), as properties in LA and the cost of living are infamously among the country’s highest. Also worth mentioning is Denver, CO, another city that made the top 20. The Colorado city has the highest number of women-owned businesses in America (25.6%) as well as a relatively small gender wage gap (14.7%).

The stigma that surrounds women in business today, concerning the number of women in executive positions, salaries compared to men, and female-owned businesses is gradually becoming less of a taboo subject. And in light of this year’s Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women list, we look up to powerful and influential women such as Marian Ilitch ($5.1 billion net worth), Diane Hendricks ($4.7 billion net worth), and Judy Love ($2.9 billion net worth), who continue to take the business world by storm and pave the way for more women to achieve success in today’s economy.

This guest post on women in business was authored by Lauren Pritchett

Lauren Pritchett is a member of the marketing team at Citrix, where she is also involved with the Women’s Inspirational Network. She lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband, daughter, and rescue dog.