The best markets for female executives

By G. Scott Thomas

updated 11:07 a.m. ET Aug. 8, 2007

Female executives are definitely making progress.

The number of businesses owned by women increased 20 percent during a recent five-year period, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, while the revenues produced by those firms jumped 15 percent.

"It's important to note what a long way women have come," says Erin Fuller, executive director of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). "The number of woman-owned businesses is now growing at twice the rate for all businesses, and we forecast that it's going to continue at that speed."

But these gains aren't occurring across the board. Women find some business communities more congenial than others. The key question is: Which places give a woman the best chance of starting a company or climbing the corporate ladder?

A new Bizjournals study has the answer. It puts the San Francisco-Oakland area at the top of the national rankings, followed by other high-profile urban centers such as Washington, New York City and Los Angeles, and the smaller college town of Madison, Wis.

More from Bizjournals.com The 10 best markets for female execs The 10 worst markets for female execs Markets leaders in certain business categories Survey methodology How 100 markets ranked Poll: Are opportunities better for women now?

Bizjournals used a nine-part formula to identify the markets that offer women the best business opportunities, both as entrepreneurs and employees.

The study focused on the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas, which had 195.5 million residents as of mid-2006, accounting for 65 percent of the nation's total population. These areas included 4.5 million businesses owned by women, 69 percent of the national total.

The highest scores in Bizjournals' rankings went to markets where a substantial number of well-educated, well-paid women hold responsible positions in local businesses.

The San Francisco Bay area emerged as the clear national leader. The mix of industries in the San Francisco-Oakland area has made it possible for women to do extremely well, says Tucker Hart Adams, president of The Adams Group Inc., a Colorado Springs economic-research firm.

"Instead of heavy manufacturing, San Francisco has a lot of technology-related and service-related businesses," she says. "And it's a fact that you tend to find more women going into technology and the services, not steel plants. It also helps that San Francisco has a very supportive network for women in business. Instead of the good-old-boys network, it's a good-old-girls network."

San Francisco-Oakland is the only market to rank among the three national leaders in three of the study's key categories: the percentage of women who hold bachelor's degrees, the number of woman-owned businesses per 10,000 residents, and the share of female employees with salaries of $100,000 or more.

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