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A quarter of all Utah businesses are now owned by women, but that is one of the lowest rates among the states, according to new census estimates taken once every five years that were released Tuesday.

In fact, among the 50 most-populous counties in the nation, Salt Lake County ranked dead last for its percentage of women-owned businesses in 2007 at 25.6 percent — even though that was a bit above the statewide average of 24.9 percent.

"I think the driving force behind that is our state traditionally has a lot of stay-at-home moms" because of LDS Church beliefs that stress the importance of family, said Pam Okumura, program director for the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce Women's Business Center.

Also, "Utah has a relatively low educational attainment on the part of women," and is one of the few states where most college degrees go to men instead of women, said Scott Schaefer, associate dean at the University of Utah's Eccles School of Business.

"Not that having a bachelor's degree is a prerequisite to opening a business, but it opens your eyes to opportunities out there, puts you in touch with resources and gives you access to networks of people who can help you," and too many Utah women lack that, Schaefer said.

Still, Okumura said she is surprised that Utah ranked sixth lowest among states in the new data.

She noted that an earlier 2004 study by the Center for Women's Business Research — which said it also used Census data — had ranked Utah first in the nation in the growth of women-owned businesses. So the numbers may be growing fast here, even if they are still low overall when compared with other states, according to the latest data.

"Utah is slowly becoming more like the rest of the nation," Schaefer said. "Utah is behind in this area now, but I would guess that it won't be for long."

Okumura's center — a joint project between the chamber of commerce and the Small Business Administration — offers free one-on-one counseling to women starting, or running, businesses. Okumura said she sees daily why it may be an extra challenge for some women to own businesses.

"I have several clients who are recently divorced. Their husbands were the breadwinners, and they were stay-at-home moms. So they don't have a lot of education or experience," she said.

Okumura said that, in the current tough economy, many women — and men — have trouble finding any job, "so they try starting their own business out of sheer panic" to bring in some money.

"And if they don't have a work history or a full-time job, no one will lend to them" to help their businesses, she said.

Brittany Hermanski, co-owner of The Green Element, an eco-friendly clothing line that started two years ago, said she and her partner are both university graduates who still have full-time jobs besides their online company, "and we've said many times that we're glad" about both.

She said it helped them know to take advantage of Small Businesses Administration programs such as Okumura's. "Women are considered a minority, so there are actually a lot of options for financing and investing in a woman's favor," Hermanski said.

Okumura said she is seeing women of all ages and backgrounds starting businesses. Among the most common types of firms she sees are food and restaurant businesses, online companies and retail.

The new data — for businesses existing in 2007 — estimated that women owned 61,467 businesses in Utah, or 24.9 percent of all firms.

Nationally, women owned 7.8 million businesses, or 28.7 percent of all firms. Businesses owned equally by men and women numbered 4.6 million, or 17 percent of the total. Men owned 52 percent, and ownership by gender couldn't be determined for about 3 percent.

"As business owners, women in 2007 had a major impact on the nation's economy, employing more than 7.6 million workers," said Thomas Mesenbourg, deputy director of the Census Bureau. "Nonetheless, women-owned businesses still lag behind businesses owned by men." —

U.S.rankings

Top

Districtof Columbia • 34.5 percent

Maryland • 32.6 percent

New Mexico • 31.7 percent

Hawaii • 31 percent

Georgia • 30.9 percent

Bottom

South Dakota • 22.1 percent

Idaho • 23.5 percent

Arkansas • 24.5 percent

Montana • 24.6 percent

North Dakota • 24.7 percent

Utah • 24.9percent

Source: U.S. Census Bureau —

Top counties for women-owned businesses

Bronx County, N.Y. • 40.5 percent

Wayne County, Mich. • 36.7 percent

Kings County, N.Y. • 33.6 percent

Milwaukee County, Wis. • 33.0 percent

Montgomery County, Md. • 32.4 percent

Bottom counties

Suffolk County, N.Y. • 27 percent

Erie County, N.Y. • 26.2 percent

DuPage County, Ill. • 26.1 percent

Nassau County, N.Y. • 25.9 percent

Salt Lake County, Utah • 25.6 percent

Source: U.S. Census Bureau