Florida ranks No. 2 for growth in women-owned businesses

The Sunshine State is particularly sunny for women-owned firms, according to a new study. Florida had the second-highest growth in the number of women-owned businesses over the past 20 years, according to a study by American Express Open. The number of firms jumped from 338,000 in 1997 to just over 1 million in 2017.

The study released Wednesday examined data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Business Owners.

Tampa Bay ranked No. 11 out of the 50 metropolitan areas with the largest growth, clocking in at 130.7 percent growth from 54,000 in 2002 to 125,700 in 2017.

Women-owned companies arising locally in the past 20 years range from St. Petersburg-based logistics company Interstate Transport Inc., founded in 2002, to Tampa-based Northern Technologies Group, also founded in 2002, to Clearwater-based PostcardMania, founded in 1998.

Nationally, the number of women-owned businesses has ballooned by 114 percent over the last two decades.

Contact Malena Carollo at mcarollo@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2249. Follow @malenacarollo on Twitter.