Utah has ranked dead last in the U.S. for women’s equality eight years in a row, but a study from Lehi-based online lending marketplace Lendio found that the number of women-owned businesses in Utah grew 22 percent from 2012 to 2020 — the eighth-highest growth rate in the country.
Lendio researchers concluded that this may be due in part to Utah’s overall positive business environment with the best Gini Index, a measure of income inequality, in the country. Utah also has above-average employment rates for women, with 60 percent of women currently employed, compared to the national average of 58 percent.
“Utah still has work to do in improving its share of women-owned employer firms (businesses with at least one employee), but women entrepreneurs are closing the gap,” the Lendio study concluded.
Lendio analyzed seven metrics to determine the best states for women entrepreneurs with data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and others.
The full report canbe found at https://www.lendio.com/blog/best-states-for-women-small-business-owners/.