--- url: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-priority-problems-by-owner/' title: 'Priority Problems by Owner: Health Insurance Ranks No. 1 for Male and Female Owners Alike. Social Media Ranks 61st and 37th' author: name: Samantha Lankford url: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/author/sam/' date: '2026-11-03T15:30:00-05:00' modified: '2026-11-03T15:30:00-05:00' type: post summary: 'NFIB''s 2024 survey: six of the top ten problems match for male- and female-owned firms. Nine of 75 separate on both measures, and big rank gaps often don''t.' categories: - Blog Post image: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/founder-priority-problems-by-owner-hero.webp' published: true --- # Priority Problems by Owner: Health Insurance Ranks No. 1 for Male and Female Owners Alike. Social Media Ranks 61st and 37th ![The Lonely Entrepreneur](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/TLE_Logo_mobile-490W-26-26.png)Founder Data Report ![Priority Problems by Owner: Health Insurance Ranks No. 1 for Male and Female Owners Alike. Social Media Ranks 61st and 37th](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/founder-priority-problems-by-owner-hero.webp) Founder Data Report # Priority Problems by Owner: Health Insurance Ranks No. 1 for Male and Female Owners Alike. Social Media Ranks 61st and 37th By Michael Dermer • Updated November 3, 2026 Join us Fridays at 12 PM ET to ask TLE CEO Michael Dermer your questions live. [Join the CEO Call →](https://shorturl.at/364XX) NFIB asks small-business owners to rate 75 problems, and it breaks the ranking out by the gender of the owners. Six of the top ten are the same. The more useful finding is which rank gaps survive a check against the actual scores, and how many do not. Quick Answer In NFIB’s 2024 Small Business Problems & Priorities survey, **Cost of Health Insurance ranks first** for male-owned, female-owned and equally owned businesses alike, and six of the top ten problems are the same for male- and female-owned firms. On our test of the published figures, **9 of the 75 problems** separate on both the average score and the share calling the problem critical. Several of the largest rank gaps do not. The priority problem in your business is the one that deserves your next hour. It is tempting to look for it on someone else’s list, and a list sorted by who owns the business looks especially tempting. So it is worth asking how much that list actually changes, and how much of the change is real. NFIB publishes the ranking three ways: 1,282 male-owned businesses, 328 female-owned and 714 equally male and female owned. It publishes no margins of error, so we applied a conservative test of our own to the averages and shares in the table. A gap counts here only if it passes on both. The 30-second version - Cost of Health Insurance ranks first for all three groups. - Six problems make the top ten for both male- and female-owned firms, and all six make it for equally owned firms too. - Nine of 75 problems separate on both measures. Male owners rate seven as more severe; female owners rate two as more severe: Minimum Wage/“Living” Wage and Using Social Media to Promote Business. - Rank gaps can mislead. Electricity Costs (rates) ranks 14th and 4th, and the scores behind those ranks do not separate. - NFIB publishes no margins of error, covers its own members, and the table cannot say why a problem ranks where it does. ## Most of the top of the list is shared Health insurance is first for every group. Five more problems make the top ten for both male- and female-owned firms: cost of supplies, federal income taxes, uncertainty over economic conditions, locating qualified employees, and unreasonable government regulations. All six also make the top ten for equally owned businesses. Sixty of the 75 problems sit within nine ranks of each other between male- and female-owned firms. If you are looking for a different set of top priorities here, this table mostly does not offer one. The Data The six problems in the top ten for both male- and female-owned businesses Cost of Health Insurance Male owned rank1st Female owned rank1st Federal Taxes on Business Income Male owned rank3rd Female owned rank3rd Cost of Supplies/Inventories Male owned rank6th Female owned rank2nd Uncertainty over Economic Conditions Male owned rank2nd Female owned rank6th Locating Qualified Employees Male owned rank4th Female owned rank7th Unreasonable Government Regulations Male owned rank7th Female owned rank8th Rank out of 75 within each group. A longer bar is a higher rank; bar length shows position in the top ten, not the size of the problem. Ranks are based on each group’s average score. NFIB Research Center, Small Business Problems & Priorities, 2024 (11th edition), Table 12: measures of small business problem importance by owners’ gender. Male owned n=1,282; female owned n=328; equally male and female owned n=714. Separation tests are our own, on the published figures. ## The nine that clearly differ Nine problems separate on both the average score and the share calling them critical. Male owners rate seven of them as more severe. The widest rank gap in that group is Environmental Regulations (e.g., EPA), 39th for male-owned and 63rd for female-owned firms. Health insurance is on this list too: first for both, but 43.5% of male owners call it critical against 36.4% of female owners. Female owners rate two as more severe. Minimum Wage/“Living” Wage ranks 16th for them and 31st for male owners, with 21.1% against 15.3% calling it critical. Using Social Media to Promote Business ranks 37th and 61st, with 8.0% against 4.4%. Employee turnover and advertising also score more severe among female owners on the average, though not on the critical share. Equally owned businesses do not sit halfway. On fuel costs, government uncertainty, environmental rules and social media, their scores fall closer to male-owned firms and separate from female-owned ones. Fuel costs rank 3rd for them. The Data Share calling each problem critical: the nine that separate on both measures Cost of Health Insurance (ranked 1st and 1st) Male owned43.5% Female owned36.4% Cost of Natural Gas, Propane, Gasoline, Diesel, Fuel Oil (ranked 5th and 11th) Male owned24.6% Female owned18.7% Finding and Keeping Skilled Employees (ranked 12th and 20th) Male owned26.9% Female owned20.5% Unreasonable Government Regulations (ranked 7th and 8th) Male owned25.3% Female owned19.9% Uncertainty over Government Actions (ranked 8th and 12th) Male owned24.4% Female owned18.3% Tax Complexity (ranked 9th and 17th) Male owned19.7% Female owned15.1% Environmental Regulations (e.g., EPA) (ranked 39th and 63rd) Male owned11.2% Female owned6.8% Minimum Wage/“Living” Wage (ranked 31st and 16th) Male owned15.3% Female owned21.1% Using Social Media to Promote Business (ranked 61st and 37th) Male owned4.4% Female owned8.0% Share of owners in each group calling the problem critical, and the problem’s rank for male-owned then female-owned firms. Both bars on one scale, 0 to 100%. Each row separates on our test on both measures. NFIB Research Center, Small Business Problems & Priorities, 2024 (11th edition), Table 12: measures of small business problem importance by owners’ gender. Male owned n=1,282; female owned n=328; equally male and female owned n=714. Separation tests are our own, on the published figures. > A big gap in rank is not the same as a big gap in the problem. ## The rank gaps that do not hold up Ranks are easy to read and easy to over-read. When dozens of problems have average scores close together, a small move in a score can shift a problem many places. Electricity Costs (rates) ranks 4th for female owners and 14th for male owners. The shares calling it critical, 16.5% and 15.5%, do not separate. Workers’ Compensation ranks 24th for male owners and 39th for female owners, a 15-place gap that NFIB’s own chart highlights. On the share calling it critical the order reverses: 13.7% of female owners and 12.7% of male owners. Neither measure separates on our test. Real Estate Values and required equipment costs show the same thing: gaps of 14 or 15 places, and scores that do not separate. The Data Large rank gaps where the underlying scores do not separate Workers’ Compensation15 placesReal Estate Values15 placesCost of Government RequiredEquipment/Procedures14 placesTraining Employees14 placesElectricity Costs (rates)10 places- Places between a problem’s rank for male-owned and female-owned firms. Left: ranked higher by male owners. Right: ranked higher by female owners. Axis runs to 24 places, the largest gap in the table. No row separates on our test on either measure. NFIB Research Center, Small Business Problems & Priorities, 2024 (11th edition), Table 12: measures of small business problem importance by owners’ gender. Male owned n=1,282; female owned n=328; equally male and female owned n=714. Separation tests are our own, on the published figures. ## What to take from this if you run one Do not borrow your priority problem from a list sorted by who owns the business, this one included. Use the list as a prompt. Go through the top ten and ask which of them you have numbers on, and which you are carrying as a worry with no number attached. Then pick the one that would change your next month the most if it were solved. If two problems look close, they may well be close, and that is worth knowing too. Three limits worth holding. The respondents are **members of NFIB**, not all small businesses. NFIB publishes **no margins of error**; the separation test here is our own, applied to the published figures. And the table **cannot say why** a problem ranks where it does. NFIB’s report suggests industry and employee count likely play a part, but the table does not control for either, and we do not read a reason into it. The Data Where the numbers land 1st Cost of Health Insurance’s rank for all three groups of owners 6 of 10 top-ten problems shared by male- and female-owned firms 9 of 75 problems that separate on both the average score and the critical share 60 of 75 problems within nine ranks between male- and female-owned firms NFIB Research Center, Small Business Problems & Priorities, 2024, Table 12. ## Frequently Asked Questions What is the biggest problem for female-owned small businesses? Cost of Health Insurance, the same as for male-owned and equally owned firms, in NFIB's 2024 survey. 36.4% of female owners called it critical. Do male and female owners rank problems differently? Less than the rank gaps suggest. Six of the top ten are shared, and 60 of 75 problems are within nine ranks. On our test, 9 of the 75 separate on both the average score and the share calling the problem critical. Which problems do female owners rate as more severe? On both measures, Minimum Wage/“Living” Wage and Using Social Media to Promote Business. Employee turnover and advertising score more severe on the average but not on the critical share. Why do the rankings differ? The table does not say. NFIB's report suggests industry and employee count likely play a part, but the table does not control for either. Where does the data come from? NFIB's Small Business Problems & Priorities, 2024 (11th edition), a survey of NFIB members. 2,324 of the 2,873 respondents appear in the gender table. Keep reading [Fuel Costs Rank 25th Among Urban Small-Business Owners’ Problems. For Rural Owners They Rank 2nd](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-where-your-problems-live/) - [Health Insurance Ranks No. 1 in All Nine of NFIB’s Industry Groups. Cost of Supplies: 2nd in Retail, 45th in Finance](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-your-trades-own-list/) - [Three Problems Made Small-Business Owners’ Top 10 in Every NFIB Survey From 1986 to 2024. Health Insurance Was First Each Time](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-three-that-stayed/) Part of the entrepreneurial struggle: [Priority Problem](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/entrepreneur-struggle/priorities/) ![The Lonely Entrepreneur](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/TLE_Logo_mobile-490W-26-26.png) Published by **The Lonely Entrepreneur** — the community and coaching platform for entrepreneurs who are building alone. [lonelyentrepreneur.com](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/) This article is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional financial or legal advice.