MagnifyMoney 
Washington, D.C., sits atop the best places for working women for the fourth time in a row.
MagnifyMoney researchers examined eight factors across the 50 largest U.S. metros relevant to women achieving financial and professional success. While some metros like D.C. maintained their positions, others like Riverside, Calif., have dropped.
One of the key aspects examined is the gender pay gap, which disadvantages women. But that’s not the only way women can fall behind, as other societal pressures can impact their ability to succeed.
“Working women often bear the brunt of the burden of caregiving in their families, whether that means children or elderly parents,” says Ismat Mangla, MagnifyMoney executive editor. “This means that on top of their day job responsibilities, they are often working a ‘second shift’ by being the primary caregiver at home. This often leads to burnout or the inability to do either job well.”
Here’s where women workers fare best (and worst).
As was the case with the prior versions, Washington, D.C., stands out as the best place for working women.
D.C. has the highest percentage of women in management positions (44.5%) across the 50 metros studied. That’s more than three percentage points higher than the 50-metro average of 41.0%.
And the future outlook here is positive, as 69.4% of D.C. women between ages 18 and 24 have some college under their belt, which could help bolster their representation in management positions. That compares to 55.3% across the U.S. Plus, notably, 53.8% of the metro’s district legislators are women — far above the 50-metro average of 32.2%.
All that said, the metro isn’t at the top across each category examined, with life circumstances influencing how supportive the metro can be. For example, D.C. requires the second-highest percentage of median women’s earnings needed to pay for day care (38.4%) — more than 10 percentage points higher than the 50-metro average of 27.6%.
| Rank | Metro | Final score | % of women who are unemployed | % of businesses owned by women | Median earnings gap between men and women (%) | % of state legislators who are women | Parental and pregnancy workplace state protection score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington, D.C. | 75.3 | 4.6% | 24.0% | 16.5% | 53.8% | 75 |
| 2 | Denver | 71.9 | 3.3% | 24.4% | 17.3% | 44.0% | 80 |
| 3 | San Francisco | 68.9 | 4.3% | 22.5% | 17.9% | 31.7% | 75 |
| 4 | Portland, Ore. | 67.1 | 4.2% | 21.3% | 19.5% | 45.6% | 71 |
| 5 | Baltimore | 62.7 | 4.7% | 22.3% | 16.9% | 43.6% | 17 |
| 6 | Seattle | 61.9 | 4.1% | 21.8% | 23.4% | 42.2% | 67 |
| 7 | Providence, R.I. | 61.0 | 4.3% | 19.2% | 17.5% | 44.2% | 43 |
| 8 | Boston | 60.8 | 4.0% | 19.2% | 18.7% | 31.5% | 88 |
| 9 | Minneapolis | 60.6 | 2.9% | 20.3% | 18.0% | 35.8% | 29 |
| 10 | Las Vegas | 59.4 | 6.1% | 22.4% | 12.9% | 58.7% | 23 |
Source: MagnifyMoney analysis. See full rankings for data on additional metrics.
Denver comes in second, performing well across nearly every metric examined. The metro is bolstered by its high parental and pregnancy workplace state protection score — jumping from 39 in the 2020 version to 80 (second-highest among the 50 metros) this year.
That jump is a result of Colorado’s new paid leave policy, which was enacted in 2020 and will be available to residents in 2024. It provides 12 weeks of paid leave for bonding with a new child, whether through birth, adoption or fostering. This comes almost a decade after initial efforts to get a policy passed in the state.
Like D.C., however, a large percentage of women’s earnings are required to pay for day care (31.6%) — four percentage points higher than the 50-metro average of 27.6%.
San Francisco rounds out the top three, finishing in the same position as in 2020.
Like Denver, it tends to score well across the board. In fact, of the top three, it has the lowest percentage of median women’s earnings needed to pay for day care (26.0%). The California metro is also in the top 10 among the percentage of women who are managers (42.8%).
However, the metro has a significantly smaller female presence among state legislators (31.7%) — below the 50-metro average of 32.2%. It also has the largest wage gap between working women and men among the top three metros, at 17.9%. So while women in the tech hub may have more opportunities to thrive, there are still barriers to be dismantled.
Riverside, Calif., is the worst place for working women, down from 10th-worst in the 2020 study. It replaces Charlotte, N.C., which — interestingly — is now the 10th-worst place for working women.
There are two standout data points for Riverside that cement its place at the bottom.
The metro has an above-average cost among what women would have to pay for day care (42.6% of their median earnings) — that’s the highest percentage across any of the 50 metros examined.
Riverside also has a 7.3% percentage of women ages 20 to 64 who are unemployed — again, this is highest among the 50 metros. The metro’s overall unemployment rate spiked to 15.2% at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020 and remained above 7% through August 2021. That — combined with the rising costs of goods — makes the metro an especially difficult place for women to find success.
| Rank | Metro | Final score | % of women who are unemployed | % of businesses owned by women | Median earnings gap between men and women (%) | % of state legislators who are women | Parental and pregnancy workplace state protection score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverside, Calif. | 28.8 | 7.3% | 18.9% | 18.1% | 31.7% | 75 |
| 2 | Detroit | 36.3 | 5.8% | 19.6% | 26.0% | 35.1% | 0 |
| 3 | Birmingham, Ala. | 36.9 | 5.4% | 17.0% | 22.5% | 17.1% | 13 |
| 4 | Indianapolis | 39.7 | 4.3% | 17.6% | 21.9% | 24.0% | 0 |
| 5 | Memphis, Tenn. | 39.9 | 6.7% | 19.7% | 18.4% | 16.7% | 17 |
| 6 | Cleveland | 40.1 | 5.3% | 18.2% | 21.0% | 31.1% | 0 |
| 7 | Oklahoma City | 40.4 | 3.8% | 19.5% | 24.4% | 20.8% | 0 |
| 8 | Pittsburgh | 40.9 | 4.2% | 18.5% | 24.0% | 29.2% | 0 |
| 9 | Houston | 41.2 | 5.3% | 22.7% | 18.6% | 26.5% | 13 |
| 10 | Charlotte, N.C. | 41.3 | 5.2% | 20.0% | 20.8% | 25.9% | 15 |
Source: MagnifyMoney analysis. See full rankings for data on additional metrics.
Detroit emerges as the second-worst place for working women — in the same ranking as the last version of the MagnifyMoney study.
The wage gap in Detroit is concerning for working women, who earn 26.0% less than their male counterparts — second-worst across the 50 metros behind San Jose, Calif. And things are particularly grim for working mothers, as the state of Michigan doesn’t have any parental or pregnancy workplace protections either in place or in its plans.
Interestingly, Detroit has a lower unemployment rate for women than Las Vegas, which ranks as the 10th-best place for working women.
Following closely ahead of Detroit is Birmingham, Ala.
Compared to other bottom-ranking areas, Birmingham has the lowest representation of women-owned businesses and the second-lowest percentage of women as state legislators. There may be a regional influence at play on the latter count: Many Southern states have low female representation in state legislatures.
As was the case with Detroit, Birmingham’s position since the previous study hasn’t changed.
While most of our data predates the pandemic based on availability, the crisis’s impact on working women can’t be overlooked.
Women — especially women of color — are more likely to have jobs that require in-person work. They were more likely to stop working than men — particularly those who have a high school diploma or less. They also took on increased elder care duties as the pandemic unfolded.
“The pandemic has exacerbated and highlighted the challenges working women already face,” Mangla says. “Caring for school-age children became even more difficult, as mothers were often the ones shepherding children through Zoom classes while also maintaining their own work. Women have also been hit hardest when it comes to jobs lost and wages affected.”
Here are a few ways women can succeed amid the pandemic:
Each of the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas (“MSAs”) was ranked against each other on a 100-point scale based on eight factors relevant to women’s ability to achieve financial and professional success.
The final score for each MSA is the average of points assigned for each metric, and those points are assigned based on where the metro falls between the highest and lowest values for all metros.
The eight factors are:
For the sake of clarity, each metro name is the first city and state listed in the MSA title, which we understand to be the most populous component of each MSA.
Devon DelfinoDevon Delfino is an independent journalist with work featured in the Los Angeles Times, U.S. News & World Report, Teen Vogue, Forbes, MarketWatch, CNBC and USA Today, among others.
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