California home to most women-owned businesses; Sacramento numbers rising

California is home to the greatest number of women-owned businesses with about 1.2 million, according to estimates in the latest American Express analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

The 2015 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report – commissioned by American Express OPEN, the small-business services division of American Express – estimates that the in-state, women-owned firms employ about 1 million people and generate combined annual revenue of $219 billion.

The number of firms is larger than the number of employees because some businesses are one-woman ventures, and some women own multiple firms.

California ranked well ahead of No. 2 Texas (825,400).

American Express said Sacramento has an estimated 59,200 women-owned firms, employing 52,300 and producing combined annual revenue of $9.4 billion. Those numbers were up from the 2014 report, which estimated that the Sacramento metro region had 56,700 women-owned firms, employing about 50,000 and generating combined revenue of $8.5 billion.

This story was originally published May 20, 2015 at 9:51 AM with the headline "California home to most women-owned businesses; Sacramento numbers rising."