MagnifyMoney is out with new research that examined eight factors across the 50 largest U.S. cities to determine which rank highest for working women.
The consumer finance website found that the Washington, D.C., metro area “stakes its claim as the best place for working women for the fourth time in a row.”
Fully 44.5% of people in management positions in D.C. are women, the highest of any area MagnifyMoney reviewed.
In addition, 53.8% of D.C. legislators are women—second-highest across the metros—and 24% of businesses are wholly woman-owned.
Denver, Colo. jumped from fourth in 2020—the last time the report was produced—to second on the strength of improved protections and benefits for new and expecting parents. Starting in 2024, Colorado families will be provided 12 weeks of paid leave to bond with a new child. San Francisco completes the top three overall.
As for the worst, a new metro—Riverside, Calif.—is the worst place for working women. While California has some of the strongest parental and pregnancy protections and benefits in the nation, Riverside’s unemployment rate for women and its proportion of women’s earnings needed to pay for daycare are both the highest of the metros reviewed. In the last edition, Charlotte, N.C., was the worst place for working women.
Detroit and Birmingham, Ala., also rank poorly and haven’t improved since the last analysis.
“Key drivers for Detroit’s poor placement include its large wage gap between men and women and the lack of parental and pregnancy protection laws in Michigan,” the authors wrote. “Birmingham performed especially poorly with its percentages of women-owned businesses and women as state legislators.”
Best cities for working women
- Washington, D.C.
- Denver, Colo.
- San Francisco, Calif.
- Portland, Ore.
- Baltimore, Md.
- Seattle, Wash.
- Providence, R.I.
- Boston, Mass.
- Minneapolis, Minn.
- Las Vegas, Nev.
Worst cities for working women
- Riverside, Calif.
- Detroit, Mich.
- Birmingham, Ala.
- Indianapolis, Ind.
- Memphis, Tenn.
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Oklahoma City, Okla.
- Pittsburgh, Penn.
- Houston, Texas
- Charlotte, N.C.