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Welcome back to Data Detective, where we walk step by step through public data to uncover what’s really happening in Illinois’ economic landscape.
In recognition of Women’s History Month, this edition of Data Detective focuses on women entrepreneurs in Illinois, with a closer look at Chicago’s role as a hub for women-owned businesses.
This raises a straightforward but important question:
How many businesses were certified as Women-Owned in calendar year 2025?
To answer it, we’ll turn to a publicly available dataset maintained by the City of Chicago:
1. Locate the Dataset
Start at the City of Chicago’s homepage. From the top navigation menu, select the Government tab, then choose Procurement Services. Within that section, locate Certification & Compliance, and then select Find a Certified Firm.
Under the Vendor Certification section, choose Chicago’s BEPD / MBE / VBE / WBE Certified Directory. This directory serves as a centralized, publicly accessible database of businesses certified by the City of Chicago under its diversity and inclusion programs.
By default, the following certification types are selected:
- Business Enterprises owned by People with Disabilities (BEPD)
- Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
- Veteran Business Enterprise (VBE)
- Women Business Enterprise (WBE)
For the purposes of this analysis, deselect all options except Women Business Enterprise (WBE). Once filtered, download the entire directory in CSV format for analysis.
2. Examine and Clean the Data
After opening the CSV file, you’ll see a list of all firms currently certified as WBEs by the City of Chicago. As of February 10, 2026, the dataset contains 2,149 total WBE certifications.
However, this total includes duplicate entries, primarily due to recertifications. To identify these:
- Select the company name column.
- Apply conditional formatting to highlight duplicate values.
- Filter the column by color to isolate repeated entries.
Using this method, we identify six companies with multiple records. However, not all entries are duplicate locations. Check the Physical Address column to make sure these locations are in fact shared. In these cases, remove recertification records by keeping a single entry per firm and excluding the most recent certification date.
With duplicates removed, the dataset is now ready for analysis.
3. Identify Certifications by Year
Next, sort the cleaned dataset by certification date to examine trends over time. When we isolate certifications issued in calendar year 2025, the results are striking:
1,304 businesses were newly certified as WBEs in 2025 alone.
By comparison, 2024 saw just 210 WBE certifications.
As of early February 2026, 131 businesses have already been certified, putting 2026 on pace to exceed last year’s total.
This sharp increase showcases a growing participation in Chicago’s WBE certification program, as well as an increase in awareness among women entrepreneurs of the opportunities certification can unlock.
4. Explore Further
One of the strengths of this dataset is its flexibility. Users can refine the data using filters for reference geographies, industry codes, ethnicities, and more.
For example, there are 21 women-owned business registrations within the Hyde Park community area, although more can be captured through a ZIP code search (i.e. Ruff Development is located in the 60615 ZIP code area but did not self-report their community area).
For example, filtering by community area reveals 21 women-owned businesses registered in Hyde Park. However, geography filters may undercount activity in some neighborhoods. A ZIP code search for 60615, for instance, captures additional businesses, such as Ruff Development that did not self-report a specific community area.
The data we had looked at encompassed the Chicago area, but you can further explore the Women-Owned Enterprise landscape across other municipalities such as Champaign, Peoria, and Rockford.
Key Takeaway
Public procurement data provides a powerful lens into Illinois’ entrepreneurial ecosystem. By walking through Chicago’s WBE certification directory, we can see not only how many women-owned businesses are active, but how rapidly participation has grown.
For economic developers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs alike, this data highlights the scale and momentum of women-owned businesses in the area.
Get Curious
What data would you like our Research Team to tackle next? Let us know, and we’ll dive in.
Until next time!
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