Women Are Succeeding Most in These U.S. Cities

In a new ranking of the 10 best cities for successful women, each region of the nation was represented. Arlington, Va., Scottsdale, Ariz., and Madison, Wisc. took the top three spots.

According to Census data, Arlington, Va. had the highest paid women in SmartAsset's study, as the median full-time working woman earns more than $80,200 annually. Indeed, over half of women in the city earn at least $75,000 per year. Alexandria, Va. and Washington, D.C. were also in the top ten due to higher salaries for women. Women working full-time in Alexandria earn on average $67,000 each year, and in D.C., women are earning $65,060.

In 1948, only 32 percent of women were in the official labor force, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. As of February 2018, that number had almost doubled to 57 percent. We looked at percent of women with bachelor’s degrees, median earnings for full-time working women, percent of businesses owned by women, women’s unemployment rate, average housing cost as a percent of a full-time working woman’s income and percent of women with high incomes.

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