During 2021, women-owned small businesses had greater losses than men-owned small businesses, according to Biz2Credit’s Annual Women-Owned Business survey.

Compared to men-owned businesses, women had greater losses in net earnings and overall revenue, while seeing a greater increase in expenses, according to the report. 

2022 Biz2Credit Women-Owned Business Survey

Revenue: Down 4% to $475,707 in 2021 compared to $493,401 in 2020. In 2021, men-owned businesses had $675,643 in revenue.
Earnings: Down 26%, from $119,654 in 2020 to $88,895 in 2021. 
Expenses: Up 3%, from $386,712 to $386,712

During 2021, men-owned businesses also lost money, with earnings decreasing by 12% from $155,411 to $136,147, while expenses increased by 1%.

Credit Applications and Loan Awards

In 2020, 28% of all loan applications came from women-owned businesses. In 2021, 33% of all loan applications came from women-owned businesses. Yet the average loan size for women-owned businesses in 2021 was $49,712, compared to $83,198 for men-owned businesses. The highest number of women-owned business loan applications were in Texas (10.84%), followed by Georgia, Illinois, Florida and California.

In 2021 the average credit score for women-owned businesses was 580. The average credit score for men-owned businesses was 594. And loan approval rates for each were about the same, 40% for women and 41% for men.

The greatest number of loan applications from women-owned businesses came from service industries (32%), Other loan applications came from retail trade (15%), accommodation and food (9%) and health care and social service (7.4%) industries.

Women-Owned Businesses Continue to Grow

Although women-owned businesses are historically not financed as well as men-owned businesses, they continue to grow. There are 13 million women-owned businesses in the US and those 13 million businesses employ 10 million people. From 2014 to 2019, the number of women-owned businesses has growth by 43%,

Association of Women’s Business Centers Loan Report

The AWBC provides free services to women-owned businesses, including help with loan applications, counseling and more. During 2021, AWBC clients were awarded a 31% increase in Small Business Administration loans. Overall the clients received 262,455,406 in SBA loans. The AWBC clients also received 73,458,887 in non-SBA loans. 

AWBC Director Corinne Hodges called the association “economic first responders” for women-owned businesses.

Biz2Credit and PPP Loans

As in the private sector, women-owned businesses had strong loan approval rates (49%) but lower loan amounts compared to men-owned businesses, via the Biz2Credit PPP application platform.

Here are the loan amounts:

PPP1: 70,000 women owned, 114,970 men owned.
PPP 2: 29,560 women owned, 52,508 men-owned.

The overall average for all PPP loans, 41,304 for women, 78,229 for men.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, “Surprising Findings from the 2022 Biz2Credit Women-Owned Business Survey” was first published on Small Business Trends