The Biz2Credit Women-Owned Business Study shared its annual analysis of 53,000 companies in 2023. The report found that earnings for women-owned small businesses remained steady. The study found the earnings for men-owned businesses decreased by 3 percent. A year-over-year (YoY) comparison showed a 15.5 percent increase in annual revenue with a higher funding rate (35 percent) for women-owned businesses. This is in comparison to men-owned businesses (29 percent).
The Biz2Credit Women-Owned Business Study examined financial indicators. These include annual revenue, operating expenses, age of business and credit scores of funding applicants.
Women-owned business revenue
“Women-owned businesses performed very well in 2023. They had significant increases in average annual revenue,” said Rohit Arora. Arora is CEO and co-founder of Biz2Credit and one of the nation’s leading experts in small business finance.
“One major finding of the report this year is the narrowing of the revenue gap between male-owned and female-owned firms,” Arora added. “With a 15.5 percent jump in the average revenue for a woman-owned business, the gap is slowly shrinking. However, women-owned firms still make about 66 cents for every dollar that a male-owned firm brings in.”
In addition to producing higher revenues and earnings, male-owned companies, on average, are in business longer (72 months vs. 62 months) and have higher credit scores (657 vs. 640). This could also account for the differences in funding amounts.
Key finding for research on women-owned business revenue
- Average Annual Revenue for women-owned businesses increased 15.5 percent, from $391,582 in 2022 to $452,446 in 2023. The average revenue gap in 2023, between women-owned and men-owned businesses was $237,503, a 34 percent difference.
- Average Earnings (Annual Revenue – Operating Expenses) for women-owned businesses remained relatively unchanged ($87,953 in 2022 and $87,634 in 2023). The average earnings for men-owned businesses decreased by 3 percent (from $152,054 in 2022 to $147,522 in 2023)
- Average operating expenses of women-owned businesses increased 20 percent, from $303,629 in 2022 to $364,812 in 2023. Men-owned businesses saw an increase of 12.0 percent.
- The Average Age of Business (in months) for women-owned businesses increased 11 months YoY. The age remains 10 months lower than men-owned businesses in 2023.
- In 2023, The average funding size of $52,779 is almost $22,000 lower than men-owned at $74,544.
- Financing Applications by State: Florida had the highest percentage (12.5 percent) of financing applications of women-owned businesses, followed by California (11.7 percent) and the 2022 leader, Texas (10.3 percent).
- Financing Applications by Industry: Services (except Public Administration) was the largest industry represented by women-owned companies (18.4 percent) in the Biz2Credit study, followed by Retail Trade (14.0 percent), Healthcare and Social Assistance (11.9 percent), Accommodation and Food Services (10.3 percent) and Professional, Scientific and Technical Service (7.9 percent).
Comparing women-owned and men-owned businesses: a year-over-year analysis
| 2022 | 2023 | |||||||
| Categories | Women | Men | Women | Men | ||||
| Average Revenue | $391,582 | $636,579 | $452,446 | $689,949 | ||||
| Average Earnings | $87,953 | $152,054 | $87,634 | $147,522 | ||||
| Average Operating Expenses | $303,629 | $484,525 | $364,812 | $542,427 | ||||
| Average Age of Business (months) | 51 | 60 | 62 | 72 | ||||
| Average Credit Score* | 629 | 647 | 640 | 657 | ||||
| Average Funding Size | $44,571 | $64,287 | $52,779 | $74,544 | ||||
Comparison of women-owned and men-owned businesses year-over-year (YoY)
| Categories | Women YoY Difference | Men YoY Difference | ||
| Average Revenue | +15% | +8% | ||
| Average Earnings | 0% | -3% | ||
| Average Operating Expenses | +20% | +12% | ||
| Average Age of Business (months) | +11 | +12 | ||
| Average Credit Score* (points) | +11 | +10 | ||
| Average Funding Size | +18% | +16% | ||
*Average credit score is derived from the personal FICO credit score of business owners.
Top 5 financing applications by state in 2023 for women-owned businesses
| States | Women |
| Florida | 12.5% |
| California | 11.7% |
| Texas | 10.3% |
| Georgia | 7.6% |
| New York | 5.3% |
Top 5 financing applications by industry in 2023 for women-owned businesses
| Industries | Women |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) | 18.4% |
| Retail Trade | 14.0% |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | 11.9% |
| Accommodation and Food Services | 10.3% |
| Professional, Scientific and Technical Services | 7.9% |
“We must examine this and all the data we can find to shed a light on the true barriers for women to access capital,” said Corinne Goble, CEO of the Association of Women’s Business Centers. “Navigating the places where economics and society meet is a journey of discovery. There is a responsibility to act upon our findings to grow our economy for all.”
Importance of women-owned businesses
During 2023, women-owned businesses had an estimated $2.1 trillion in receipts, 10.5 million employees and $499.4 billion in annual payroll, as reported by Census Bureau (Nov. 2023).
According to the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) Annual Report, there are 14 million women-owned businesses that account for 39.1 percent of all businesses in the U.S. This number is a 13.6 percent increase from 2019 to 2023 and demonstrates that women-owned firms emerged stronger from the pandemic than they did from the 2008 financial crisis.
Women-owned firms created about half of new businesses for the third year in a row. The most recent statistics (2023) stated that 1.4 million of all enterprises with workers are owned and operated by women. The share of all women-owned employers increased from 9.8 percent in 2019 to 10.2 percent in 2023. This is a contrast from the decrease from 19.4 percent to 18.3 percent that men-owned employers saw.
Methodology
The dataset for Biz2Credit’s Women-Owned Business Study comprises nearly 53,000 completed commercial funding applications received via the Biz2Credit platform in 2023. The four most important variables in the analysis were: annual revenue, operating expenses, age of business and personal credit score. The data was then tabulated to examine women-owned and men-owned businesses based on annual revenue, operating expenses, age of business, personal credit score, funding rate and average loan size. The study looked at 20 different industries, as well as geography.
About Biz2Credit
Founded in 2007, Biz2Credit has helped small businesses secure more than $8 billion in small business financing. The company continues to expand its industry-leading Biz2X® digital platform solutions for banks and other financial institutions and service providers. Visit www.biz2credit.com.
Are you looking for funding opportunities for your business? Read our recent funding roundup here.
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