The Louisville metro area has seen the largest increase of women-owned businesses since prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
Louisville's share of women business owners increased from 24% in 2019 to 32% in 2023, according to new report from payroll and HR platform Gusto.
That puts it at No. 1 among the top 50 metros analyzed in the research, ahead of Oklahoma City (No. 2); Hartford, Connecticut (No. 3); Columbus, Ohio (No. 4); and Raleigh, North Carolina (No. 5). Check out the full list here.
"That data suggests that, as women drive the surge in entrepreneurship, they are driving the renewal of economic growth outside of the country’s large economic hubs, bringing new dynamism to the Midwest and Southern US," wrote Luke Pardue, a Gusto economist, in the report.
Pardue noted that access to capital continues to be a growth for women entrepreneurs, as businesses founded by men received capital investments at a 2.5-times higher rate than women-owned businesses founded in 2022.
The Business Journals recently explored entrepreneurial gap between the genders as women-founded businesses surged during and following the pandemic.
Women owned 38% of all American businesses, staff writer Anne Stych reports, and women-owned firms account for just 21% of businesses with employees and 5% of total revenue for American businesses.
Lisa Bajorinas, executive director of Kentucky Innovation Hubs and program director of the Vogt Awards, told us that in Kentucky, the number of businesses owned by women is increasing at a rate of 1.5 times the national average and many of those businesses are started by people of color and veterans.
"Many women have turned to entrepreneurship to follow their passion, gain flexibility, and/or take control of their future and their earning power," Bajorinas said.
Read more from Bajorinas about the state of women entrepreneurship in the commonwealth here and see the list of Greater Louisville's largest women-owned businesses below.
