Study: Working Women Win in Washington

Washington DC named the Best City for Working Women

Washington D.C. may be run by a man — one man — but it's recently been named the best city in the U.S. for working women. The average woman in the District earns $55,688 annually, according to NerdWallet's list of Best Places for Women in the Workforce. Cities were ranked based on median earnings, women's earnings as a percentage of men's, and population growth.

Other cities that made up the top 10 are scattered throughout the nation, with multiple western and southern cities at the top, such as tech epicenters San Francisco and San Jose, Texas' capital Austin, and mountainous Denver taking spots two, three, four and seven respectively. Four of the top five cities cited the area's booming tech industries as catalysts for the city's high pay rates and population growth. Cities of all size were compared, with Napa, Calif. earning the top dollar for small cities and Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C. for medium metropolises.

However, in terms of equality, the gap between male and female paychecks is the smallest in Los Angeles, being the only city in which women are making more than 90 percent of a typical man's paycheck. With women making up nearly 50-percent of all U.S. Workers — and more 40-percent of women are the breadwinners for their families — hopefully more cities will join L.A. in passing the 90-percent mark.

Diana Pearl
Editor

I'm an Associate Editor at the Business of Fashion, where I edit and write stories about the fashion and beauty industries. Previously, I was the brand editor at Adweek, where I was the lead editor for Adweek's brand and retail coverage. Before my switch to business journalism, I was a writer/reporter at PEOPLE.com, where I wrote news posts, galleries and articles for PEOPLE magazine's website. My work has been published on TheAtlantic.com, ELLE.com, MarieClaire.com, PEOPLE.com, GoodHousekeeping.com and in Every Day with Rachael Ray. It has been syndicated by Cosmopolitan.com, TIME.com, TravelandLeisure.com and GoodHousekeeping.com, among other publications. Previously, I've worked at VOGUE.com, ELLE.com, and MarieClaire.com.