(Crain’s) — Women own more than a third of Chicago businesses, and Illinois generally is a female-friendly state for entrepreneurs, the Census Bureau reported.

Cook County had 165,272 firms owned by women in 2007, second only to Los Angeles County, according to a survey of business owners conducted every five years. In Chicago, 36% of the 255,611 firms in the city — which includes sole entrepreneurs — were owned by women.

Statewide, the Census Bureau counted 343,117 woman-owned firms in Illinois, fourth-highest behind California, Texas and New York. The percentage of firms owned by women in Illinois was 30.5% vs. the 28.7% national average.

The numbers do not include 805,533 publicly held companies nationwide and other firms whose owners’ gender could not be determined, which accounted for 3% of all businesses and 63.6% of all receipts.

Nationally, about 88.3% of women-owned businesses had no paid employees, and only 0.8% had at least 100 employees.

Nationwide, another 17% of firms are equally male-and-female-owned.

Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101207/NEWS02/101209898/number-of-women-owned-firms-sets-illinois-cook-ahead-of-nation#ixzz18OHZPhBn

Stay on top of Chicago business with our free daily e-newsletters