The Worst-Paying Cities for Women

March is Women’s History Month, and March 8th is International Women’s Day. First observed in the U.S. on February 28, 1909, the day has come to symbolize women’s struggles for equal rights. While it’s been nearly a century since women across the country won the right to vote and the right to work alongside men, equal pay continues to remain a distant goal.

Read the Worst-Paying Cities for Women

Since the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the salaries women earn compared to those of men has improved, albeit slowly. In 1963, women who worked full-time, year-round earned 58.9% of what men did in similar jobs with similar hours. Today, women make 77.4% of a man’s salary, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Although pay inequality remains a problem across the country, the difference is not the same everywhere. In Los Angeles, the disparity is not nearly as bad, and women make nearly 90% of what men do. In Baton Rouge, the figure is closer to 63%. Based on an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau’s compensation data, 24/7 Wall St. calculated women’s compensation compared to that of men’s and identified the cities where the wage gap is the worst.

Unequal salary for women happens in rich and poor cities alike. In the Bridgeport, CT and San Jose, CA metropolitan areas, household median incomes are among the highest in the country. Despite this, women earn less than 74% of what men earn in these areas, putting both cities among the 15 worst out of the 100 largest metropolitan areas. In other metropolitan areas, including Chattanooga, TN and Augusta-Richmond County, GA, the median income is well-below the national average. Women who work there also earn far less than men.

An analysis by 24/7 Wall St. reveals that what these areas do have in common is a concentration of industries notorious for their large pay gap between men an women. Last year, in a separate analysis, 24/7 Wall St. identified the industries that have the greatest pay disparity between the sexes. According to this research, in some industries, women make as little as two-thirds of what men do, despite performing the same job. Sectors such as manufacturing of durable and nondurable goods and health care are among the worst at paying women the same as men. Other industries that pay women the worst include finance and utilities.

To identify the cities that pay women the least, 24/7 Wall St. compared the median incomes for the past 12 months of both men and women who worked full-time, year-round in the country’s 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas, based on data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Information on the most unequal industries was calculated using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Labor, the Census Bureau, as well as Catalyst, the leading nonprofit organization for expanding women in business, and The Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

These are the worst-paying cities for women.

10. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 72.6%
> Median income for men: $51,124
> Median income for women: $37,101

The city of Palm Bay’s largest employers include several manufacturers of durable goods — a sector notorious for being among the worst for paying women equal wages. Several jobs in the sector employ mostly men and very few women. According to the Department of Labor, only 1.5% of operating engineers and other construction equipment operators are women, one of the lowest rates among all occupations. Among the area’s largest employers in area in the durable goods sector are semiconductor producer Intersil, electronics manufacturer MC Assembly, defense technology company DRS Technologies, and the Melbourne-based communications equipment company Harris. The Palm Bay metropolitan area is completely out of step with the state of Florida, which has the lowest rate of pay inequality in the country.

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9. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 72.6%
> Median income for men: $53,608
> Median income for women: $38,890

Two sectors with some of the worst income gaps between men and women are also among the largest employers in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metropolitan area. In the health services and social assistance industry, women earn just 71.8% of what men do. In the nondurable — or consumable — goods sector, women earn 73.8% of what men earn on average. These disparities are significantly worse than the national average. Some of the largest employers in the area are health services companies Lehigh Valley Hospital and St. Luke’s Hospital, followed by chemical company Air Products & Chemicals and energy company PPL, according to the Lehigh Valley Association of REALTORS. The area is also home to a number of large food producers, which are included in the nondurable goods sector.

8. Boise City-Nampa, ID
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 72.4%
> Median income for men: $44,908
> Median income for women: $32,514

The Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area is well-known for its forest products industry. The metro is home to major employers such as Idaho Pacific Lumber Company, paper company Boise Cascade and Idaho Timber. Around the turn of the century, however, Boise’s technology sector became its largest industry. Companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Micron Technology are among the city of Boise’s largest employers. Women, on average, earn less than 75% of what men do in the durable goods sector, which includes tech products, and less than 74% in the nondurable goods sector, which includes forest products. By state, Idaho ranks 12th-worst for earnings inequality by gender.

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7. Chattanooga, TN-GA
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 72.4%
> Median income for men: $45,273
> Median income for women: $32,753

Chattanooga is home to a particularly large manufacturing industry of both durable and nondurable goods — both among the worst for pay inequality. According to the city’s website, the largest manufacturing employers in the Chattanooga metropolitan area are McKee Foods Corporation, Synthetic Industries, and home appliance company Roper.

6. Colorado Springs, CO
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 72.1%
> Median income for men: $50,101
> Median income for women: $36,126

Colorado Springs’ economy is built on health care, the military, tourism, and the high-tech industry. The city’s two largest employers are Memorial Health System and Penrose-St. Francis Health Services. On average, women in the health care and social assistance sector are paid 71.8% of what men are paid. Among Colorado Springs’ other large employers are such durable goods companies as high-tech manufacturer Atmel, defense contractors Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, as well as communications company Verizon Business, which operated in the information sector. While Colorado Springs does poorly, the state of Colorado does relatively well, ranking 13th highest among all states when it comes to equal pay.

5. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 71.8%
> Median income for men: $70,605
> Median income for women: $50,714

The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metropolitan area is one of the wealthiest areas in the country, with a median household income of $74,831. The national average is $50,046. Disparity, however, affects the wealthy just as much and women in the area earn just 71.8% of what men do, on average. The area’s largest employment sector is health care, with Bridgeport Hospital and St. Vincent Medical Center the two largest employers in the city of Bridgeport. Although there are many more women than men in the health care and social assistance sector, men’s salaries are significantly higher. Bridgeport is also a major center for investment management companies. UBS employs 4,000 people in Stamford — the largest amount in the region. The finance sector is the absolute worst industry when it comes to income inequality between the genders.

4. Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 70.6%
> Median income for men: $46,648
> Median income for women: $32,926

According to the Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau, the largest industries in Augusta are health care, the military and manufacturing. The top employers in the city are the nuclear reservation Savannah River Site, the U.S. Army Signal Center and Fort Gordon, and the Medical College of Georgia. Manufacturing and health care both sway heavily towards paying men more than women.

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3. Toledo, OH
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 70.0%
> Median income for men: $49,739
> Median income for women: $34,817

Among the Toledo metropolitan area’s largest employers are ProMedica Health Services, Mercy Health Partners, and Chrysler Holdings, which built its Toledo Assembly Complex in the city. The city’s largest industries are manufacturing, health services, and education. These industries, as a whole, fail to provide women pay equality. In the Toledo metropolitan area, women earn 70% of what men do.

2. Ogden-Clearfield, UT
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 64.4%
> Median income for men: $51,766
> Median income for women: $33,331

The metropolitan statistical area of Ogden-Clearfield, UT, is the second-worst in the country for gender pay inequality.  Government, education, and manufacturing are the metropolitan area’s largest industries. Public administration and manufacturing are both highly imbalanced sectors when it comes to gender pay equality. The city of Ogden’s largest employers are the Department of Treasury, Weber State University, automotive safety product manufacturer Autoliv, and McKay Dee Hospital. Utah, on the whole, performs poorly compared to other states with regards to equal pay, ranking third-worst in the country.

1. Baton Rouge, LA
> Women’s pay as pct. of men’s: 63.4%
> Median income for men: $51,103
> Median income for women: $32,385

On average, a full-time working woman doesn’t even earn two thirds of what her male counterpart earns in the Baton Rouge metropolitan area. According to the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, the city’s largest employers are industrial construction company Turner Industries, the Louisiana State University System, engineering, procurement, and construction conglomerate Shaw Group, and industrial contractor Performance Contractors. Although LSU is an outlier, the other companies paint a picture of an industrial-leaning economy, which operates primarily in construction and the manufacturing of durable goods — two sectors with some of the worst gaps in pay between men and women. The state of Louisiana also has the greatest pay disparity in the country, with women earning 67.2% of what men do in the entire state.

Ashley C. Allen, Charles B. Stockdale