While women have made strides in many areas of the business world, there’s a significant gender gap when it comes to entrepreneurship. In fact, the rate of working-age women who become new entrepreneurs worldwide is roughly three quarters that of men.

For women who want to start a business, some parts of the U.S. are more conducive to their success than others.

In its second annual study, SmartAsset analyzed data on 50 of the largest U.S. metro areas to find the best places for women entrepreneurs. This year, we considered two additional timely metrics to account for the impact of COVID-19: the September 2020 unemployment rate and the number of  new business applications in 2020 relative to the previous five years.

The Murfreesboro, Nashville and Franklin areas of Middle Tennessee cracked the top half of the study, coming in at number 15 on the list.

The study showed that 17.01% of businesses in this area are owned by a female. The survival rate of women-owned businesses in Murfreesboro, Nashville and Franklin is 79.42%.

The number one cities for female owned businesses was Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Bloomington in Minnesota. In that area, 19.78% of businesses are women-owned and the business survival rate is 80.44%.