This NC city is among the best for women in STEM, study finds. Here’s how others fared
A North Carolina city was just named one of the best places for women with jobs in science, technology, engineering and math.
Durham earned the No. 5 spot on a list of “Top U.S. Cities for Women Working in STEM,” according to a study from the real estate website CommercialCafe.
So how did the Bull City end up in the rankings?
The region’s offices and schools likely helped to give it a boost, according to results released Monday.
“As an integral part of the Research Triangle Park and home to heavily STEM-oriented educational and research institutions, it was hardly a surprise that the city ranked best for women’s overall educational attainment,” CommercialCafe said.
In Durham, women make up 57% of residents with college degrees, findings show.
Also, 42% of Bull City residents with STEM jobs were women, the highest percentage among the locations studied, according to the results.
Female residents working in STEM had the 10th-highest median earnings, and “data showed that this income stretches further in Durham than in other urban centers,” according to CommercialCafe.
To come up with its nationwide list, the website says, it analyzed education and job market data in contiguous U.S. cities with more than 200,000 residents.
Durham wasn’t the only in North Carolina city to get a nod.
In a list of cities in the South, top rankings also went to Fayetteville, Raleigh and Charlotte, according to the CommercialCafe study.
Overall, the highest-scoring spot for women in STEM was Arlington, Virginia, national and regional results show. The city is just outside Washington, DC.
The results come as another study found North Carolina was a mediocre place for women to live, The News & Observer reported Monday. The Tar Heel state earned a No. 32 spot on the list of 50 states and the District of Columbia. That study, conducted by WalletHub, “evaluated social attitudes about women, health care access and economic opportunities,” as well as safety issues.
Nationwide, women make up 52% of college-educated workers, shows data from National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Survey of College Graduates and the Census Bureau. But only 29% of people with jobs in science and engineering are women, according to the National Science Foundation.
The findings were released during Women’s History Month, which honors women who made contributions in the country’s past.
