4 U.S. Cities Among the World’s Best for Female Entrepreneurs

Two U.S. cities offer the best environments in the world for female entrepreneurs.

New York and California’s Bay Area came in at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the latest annual Dell Women Entrepreneur Cities Index. Two other U.S. cities also appear among the top 25.

This ranking of the top 25 international cities for fostering high-potential women entrepreneurs was announced during the White House’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit going on this week.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to address the summit Friday along with entrepreneurs and business leaders such as Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Karen Quintos, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Dell, says of the index:

“Our index provides insights to move the conversation with policymakers and city leaders from awareness to action and, in turn, to empower women entrepreneurs to have the greatest economic impact on the world.”

The index ranks cities based on five factors:

• Markets
• Talent
• Capital
• Culture
• Technology

Within these categories, New York ranked No. 1 for both markets and capital. The Bay Area — which includes the San Francisco and San Jose metropolitan areas and is also home to Silicon Valley — ranked No. 1 for talent.

The top 10 cities overall are:

1. New York
2. California Bay Area
3. London
4. Stockholm
5. Singapore
6. Toronto
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Sydney
9. Paris
10. Seattle

A fourth U.S. city — Austin, Texas — also appears among the top 25 cities, coming in at No. 12.

The only other country with multiple cities in the top 25 is China, thanks to Beijing (No. 13), Hong Kong (No. 14) and Shanghai (No. 16).

Which city do you think offers entrepreneurs the best opportunities? Share your thoughts with us below or over on our Facebook page.