Ladies, start your businesses.

• Position: Economics - Brief article

With women-owned businesses accounting for nearly one-third of all privately held companies in the U.S. and growing 1.5 times faster than the national average, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an analysis of 2016's Best & Worst Metro Areas for Women-Owned Businesses, comparing the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas across 10 key metrics. The data set ranges from average revenue growth of women-owned businesses to presence of women's business centers to industry variety for women-owned firms.

The 10 best metro areas for women-owned businesses, starting at the top, are Nashville, Tenn.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; Memphis, Tenn.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Rochester, N.Y.; Kansas City, Mo.; Spokane, Wash.; Greensboro, N.C.; and Honolulu, Hawaii.

The 10 worst, from the bottom up, are San Jose, Calif.; Oxnard, Calif.; Greenville, S.C.; Columbia, S.C.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; North Port, Fla.; Provo, Utah; Scranton, Pa.; San Diego, Calif.; and Portland...