D.C. is at the top of the list for the second year in a row when it comes to the best U.S. cities for working women, according to MagnifyMoney.
The third annual 2020 Best Places for Working Women list ranked cities based on several factors, including job opportunities, the chance for upward mobility and entrepreneurship, wages and protections for mothers.
D.C. scores well nearly across the board.
“For example, it has a solid percentage of businesses that are owned by women at almost 32%; it has a high percentage of women who have employer-based health insurance; and it also has a high percentage of women managers,” Lauren Perez at MagnifyMoney told WTOP.
“D.C. just really protects working women and gives them room for upward mobility,” she said.
Almost 44% of managers in D.C. are women, the highest in the nation.
And while child care expenses in D.C. are among the highest in the nation, wages for working women are also high, making child care expenses less of a burden.
MagnifyMoney says D.C. has strong policies in place to protect working women, scoring high for both parental leave and pregnancy workplace protection.
The median earnings gender pay gap in D.C. is 17.1%, in the middle of the 50 cities ranked.
Silicon Valley scores fairly well for working women, but it also has the largest gender wage gap among the 50 cities ranked, where men make an average 28% more than women for similar work. MagnifyMoney says that is because Silicon Valley’s employment base is so heavily weighted toward technology companies.
“We do know that there is a large gap between men and women in IT in terms of workplace ratios. Only about 26% of Americans in computer and tech engineering and science jobs are women. And there is also a high discrepancy in income, which is what we found in San Jose and Silicon Valley.”
Charlotte, North Carolina, ranks at the bottom of MagnifyMoney’s list of Best Cities for Working Women. It says opportunities can be hard to find, with a 6% female unemployment rate. There are also low percentages of women business owners and managers.
Other top cities, in addition to D.C., are Seattle, San Francisco and Minneapolis. Others at the bottom of the list include Birmingham, Alabama, Memphis and Oklahoma City.
MagnifyMoney has posted its rankings of 50 U.S. cities and its ranking methodologies online.
