Where you live dramatically impacts how much you make. And for women, who earn only 77 percent as much as men in the U.S. and are the majority of breadwinners for their families, every cent counts.
To find out the current U.S. cities where women earn the most, Forbes took a look at the 2011 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census (the latest data available), supplied by our friends at financial literacy website NerdWallet. The annual dataset tracks the median earnings of men and women working full-time, year-around in over 500 major metropolitan areas in the country.
As it turns out, the best-paying city for women is none other than the nation?s capital. In the Washington, D.C., metro area, women working full-time earn a median income of $57,128. That?s nearly triple the salary in the worst-paying city for women. In Opelousas, La., women earn just $21,658 a year.
Slideshow: The 20 Best-Paying Cities For Women 2013
When you take a look at the composition of D.C., it?s not hard to imagine why women earn substantial wages there. The city attracts highly educated professionals who work in high-paying fields like politics and law. However, even in the city of political correctness, women earn only 81 percent as much men, who earn a median salary of $70,758.
In fact, out of all the cities tracked, there are only four in which women earn equal to or more than men: Key West, Fla; Madera, Calif.; Fort Payne, Ala.; and Sebring, Fla. ?This is astonishing because it?s a like-for-like comparison, as the data only includes women and men who have worked full time, year-round in the past 12 months,? says Stephanie Wei, VP of Financial Literacy at NerdWallet, ?not because more women work part-time or from home.?
According to a recent report by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), college-educated women working full time earn only 82 percent on average of what their male peers earn just one year out of college. The researchers conclude this wage gap results from a combination of women choosing lower-paying fields, lingering gender discrimination and differences in salary negotiations.
The second top-paying city for women is San Jose, Calif., where women earn a median salary of $56,499. (Incidentally, this is also the best-paying city for men, who earn $75,606 a year.) It is one of seven metro areas in California that made the top-20 list, likely because of the underlying industries in the state. California cities like San Jose and San Francisco have become hotbeds of innovation and recruit talent with backgrounds in engineering and computer science, among the best-paying fields. The high cost of living also boosts salaries.
Several more of the best cities for women are located in the Northeast, including four cities in Connecticut and major hubs like Boston, New York and Baltimore. Urban centers in the region feature a high concentration of top-rated universities and highly-skilled, professional jobs, which pushes up earnings.
At the bottom of the list, the 20 worst-paying cities all feature median female salaries of less than $28,000. Many of these low-paying locales are in Texas, Florida and Missouri.
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Copyright 2013 Forbes.com
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/best-paying-cities-women-1B8296994
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