Economy
What the Boom in Women-Owned Businesses Means for Cities
New research suggests that urban areas could benefit from stepping up to support female entrepreneurship.
If a new business were to open in one of the top 25 most populous cities in the United States, it’d be pretty reasonable to guess there was a woman behind it.
A new report from the Center for an Urban Future details the rates of growth for women-owned businesses between 2007 and 2012 in these cities, and the numbers are impressive. Nationally, the average rate of growth for women-owned businesses hit 27 percent, but 24 out of the 25 largest cities surpassed that number. Cities averaged a growth rate of 43 percent; Memphis topped the list with a 116 percent increase in female-owned firms.