Drew Dixon
Female business owners in Florida have made significant strides in their entrepreneurial pursuits in recent years compared to their male counterparts, a new study has found.
A recent study by Osum, a market research firm, shows average earnings among female business owners in Florida have increased 23% in just the past five years, a jump to $49,700 annually.
That’s slightly better than the national average, which showed a 21% increase for all business owners in the U.S. to $49,500 in annual earnings.
Osum used U.S. Census Bureau data to compile its study.
Despite gains for female business owners in Florida, they still have some catching up to do in the Sunshine State. According to the Osum analysis, the earnings gap between female and male business owners in the state has only gotten wider in the past half decade.
“The earnings gap between male and female business owners in Florida has widened, now standing at $32,000 — just below the national average of $35,000. Five years ago, this gap was $25,500,” the study found.
Still, there are areas where female business owners in Florida are doing better than men.
“Female business owners in Florida are currently out-earning males in 11 different industries including car dealers, clothing stores, and crop production,” among other industries, the study found.
Women who own car dealerships in Florida are nearly doubling male earnings in that field. Women averaged $122,868 in annual earnings at car dealerships while Florida men earned about $66,000.
Even in some industries that are stereotypically thought to be handled by men, women have excelled in earnings in those businesses. In Florida crop production, women owners earned $111,345 per year on average compared to just $98,547 for male owners.
While women business owners made significant gains in the past half decade, men still out-earned their female counterparts in high-earning businesses.
Men who owned optometrist offices saw the biggest disparity for earnings compared to women owners, with a difference of $205,293 annually. Male optometry office owners earned nearly $385,000 on average, while their female counterparts earned less than $180,000.
General retailers saw another big disparity of $201,570 in earnings each year in Florida. Male owners earned $227,989 per year on average in the state while female retail owners made just $26,419 on average.
Large disparities also exist among owners of doctor’s offices in Florida, with male owners earning more than $300,000 annually compared to less than $118,000 for women.
Likewise with dental offices, where male owners earned an average of nearly $240,000 per year, while women earned less than $100,000.
The data used to compile the study was collected using American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates Public Use Microdata provided by census officials. Only industries with at least 1,000 businesses run by both males and females were included in the industry-level analysis.
