The wage gap between men and women has existed as long as the U.S. Census Bureau has kept pay data. Currently, women make 81% of what men do for performing the same job. The number is worse for women of color.
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Pew recently published slightly different numbers. The research firm put the women’s pay gap at 84% of men’s. The researchers pointed out the figure was better for younger women. Pew’s conclusion about the spread was this:
Even though women have increased their presence in higher-paying jobs traditionally dominated by men, such as professional and managerial positions, women as a whole continue to be overrepresented in lower-paying occupations relative to their share of the workforce.
The pay gap changes by race, age and job. It also changes by geography. For the recent The Best & Worst Cities for Equal Pay in America report from background check company GoodHire, compensation data on America’s 100 largest cities were pulled from the Census Bureau.
There was no geographic pattern to the pay gap, and compensation was not related to city size. The city with the smallest pay gap was Los Angeles. Still, that gap is considerable, as women make 91% of what men do. In Durham, N.C., the figure is 90%, followed by Fresno, Calif., and Cape Coral, Fla., each at 89%. The figure is 85% or better in only 19 of the 100 cities.
The city with the largest pay gap by far was Provo, Utah, at 62%, followed by Baton Rouge, La., and Ogden, Utah. These were the only three cities where the number was less than 70%. (Notably, one other city in Utah ranked poorly: Salt Lake City at 76%).
These 20 cities have the worst pay gap between men and women
| City | Female to Male Income | Male Median Income |
|---|---|---|
| Provo, Utah | 62% | $60,302 |
| Baton Rouge, La. | 68% | $59,873 |
| Ogden, Utah | 69% | $58,620 |
| San Jose, Calif. | 72% | $98,344 |
| Detroit, Mich. | 75% | $61,471 |
| Augusta, Ga. | 75% | $50,509 |
| Tulsa, Okla. | 75% | $51,745 |
| Salt Lake City, Utah | 76% | $55,730 |
| Pittsburgh, Pa. | 76% | $59,397 |
| Oklahoma City, Okla. | 76% | $51,184 |
| New Orleans, La. | 76% | $53,588 |
| Birmingham, Ala. | 77% | $55,011 |
| Greenville, S.C. | 77% | $50,625 |
| St. Louis, Mo. | 77% | $58,897 |
| Wichita, Kan. | 77% | $51,654 |
| Knoxville, Tenn. | 77% | $50,750 |
| Grand Rapids, Mich. | 77% | $53,597 |
| Toledo, Ohio | 77% | $52,578 |
| Jackson, Miss. | 78% | $49,223 |
| Seattle, Wash. | 78% | $73,997 |
Click here to see which are the worst-paying jobs in America.
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