What Does a Women Entrepreneur Look Like?

New businesses are created every day. Thousands of businesses get started every month thanks to the work of entrepreneurs. In the United States, there are more than 23 million small businesses that got their start at some level thanks to the work of an entrepreneur. Despite these positive facts, being an entrepreneur can be a struggle.

More than 90% of the businesses which get started today by an entrepreneur will fail within their first 5 years.

For the US, the general population sees about 320 entrepreneurs for every 100,000 people. California, Colorado, and Texas see some the largest populations, while places like West Virginia and Indiana see the least. A look at these entrepreneur demographics will show you what it takes to beat the odds and find success today.

Who Becomes An Entrepreneur?

• Men [62%] are more likely to become entrepreneurs than women [38%]. This gender gap has been increasing since 1996.
• Unlike small business owners, the youngest age demographics are the most likely to be entrepreneurs. 57% are under the age of 44 and 29% of the are between the ages of 20-34.
• Entrepreneurs in the 55-64 age demographic has grown from 14% to 21% in the last decade, which is the largest increase of any age group.
• 3 out of every 5 entrepreneurs are White/Caucasian, but 1 out of 4 are Hispanic.
• Only Blacks/African-Americans are under-represented as entrepreneurs in the US compared to their general population numbers, with just 9% being entrepreneurs.
• 18% of entrepreneurs are high school dropouts.
• 53% of entrepreneurs have taken at least some college classes. 28% of entrepreneurs have at least one college degree.
• More than half of today’s entrepreneurs graduated in the top 10% of their high school class.

The world of the entrepreneur ebbs and flows as the economy improves or declines. In 2011, for example, there was an average of 543,000 new businesses being created in the US every month. In 1997, there were just 395,000 new businesses being created every month. As workers begin to get fed up with depressed wages, few advancement opportunities, and being asked to do more work, they begin turning to the world of entrepreneurship as a way to earn money from their natural talents. It isn’t an easy journey to walk for sure, but it is one that more and more people have been embracing in the last 10 years.

Women Are Changing the Entrepreneurial World

• Women who are entrepreneurs have seen almost 2x the growth in their opportunities [42% to 23%] since 1997 compared to all opportunities in the general population.
• About 10 million businesses are currently operating because of the efforts of female entrepreneurs.
• About $2 trillion in annual sales is generated every year because of the efforts of women in the entrepreneurial world.
• Women are founding businesses in the US at 1.5x the national average.

What is unique about the entrepreneur demographics is that sometimes the majority groups aren’t seeing the most success. Men might dominate this industry, but women are seeing the most overall success. Women are seeing more money come to them through successful crowdfunding efforts, receiving more overall support, and generating trillions of dollars in sales every year. Since the Fortune 500 businesses barely include women in their executive leadership, is it any wonder why women are thinking about becoming entrepreneurs? It may have once been taboo, but today a female entrepreneur is one of the most coveted business professionals in the US today.

Read the entire article: 29 Interesting Entrepreneur Demographics

Editor note: More recent data from Guidant Financial reported: Four (4) of every ten (10) U.S. businesses are owned by women, having grown 58 percent from 2007 to 2018. Businesses owned by women generate $3.1 trillion in revenue. According to the National Association of Education Statistics, black women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the United States. According to Center for American Progress Latina women own 36 percent of all companies owned by minority women in America.

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