Washington, D.C., Named the Best Big City for Working Women

NerdWallet is an online personalized finance service that helps "consumers make better decisions about their personal finances, travel plans, or higher education." The company recently published a report that named the best places for women in the workforce, and Washington, D.C., was No. 1 on the big city list.

The lists, divided into large, medium, and small cities, were based on an analysis of 366 metro areas and included data from the U.S. Census. Three criteria were examined: median salary for full-time female employees, women's pay as a percentage of men's for full-time employees, and the population growth of each city.

The Study

According to a February 2013 report published by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Women have made notable changes in their labor force activities." The number of full-time working women has increased considerably since 1970. According to the report, "In 1979, women working full-time earned 62 percent of what men did; in 2011, women's earnings were 82 percent of men's."

NerdWallet examined cities "with characteristics that support working women, including a growing economy, a small gender pay gap, and robust salaries" and divided their rankings based on metro area size.

In an interview with TIME, NerdWallet analyst Divya Raghavan said, "We parsed the results because some people aren't looking for jobs in big cities. While many working women want to move to places like New York City, others want to live in smaller cities where they can raise families and send their children to quality public schools. We wanted to make sure we had results that catered to all women, not exclusively young, mobile women who are drawn to big cities."

Why Washington, D.C.?

NerdWallet says that women in D.C. "benefit from a high median salary and high population growth."

While the area offers several employment opportunities for the politically inclined, many women also work in research in area universities. With the tourism industry booming in the District -- Washington, D.C., had approximately 16.1 million domestic visitors in 2011 -- more prospects of work have also been added.

With such avenues, the median earnings for full-time, year-round female employees in D.C. is $55,688, and women's earnings in D.C. are 81.9 percent of men's earnings.

After Washington, D.C., NerdWallet listed San Francisco, San Jose, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Denver, Raleigh, New York City, and Sacramento on the list of the top 10 big cities for working women.

Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, took first in the list of the best medium-sized cities for women in the workforce, thanks to job opportunities at the metro area's universities. Women's pay is 93.5 percent of men's in Durham-Chapel Hill, and the median pay for full-time, year-round women is $41,736.

The small cities list is led by Napa, California, where NerdWallet reports women's earnings are 91.6 percent of men's and median women's pay is $46,949.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/washington-d-c-named-best-big-city-working-172600518.html

Richard Griffiths FGCU Reid Flair tony romo Good Friday 2013 good friday Dufnering