Dallas has long been a diverse city, and last year the DFW region was ranked as the nation's 11th most diverse by Bloomberg. A recent study shows that the diversity of the city can also be seen in the workforces of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics industry.
New York-based fintech company SmartAsset, which focuses on providing financial data and credit monitoring, ranked Dallas as the ninth most diverse STEM workforce in the country. The company looked at demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 1-year American Community Survey in 35 cities across the U.S. The study also looked at the amount of gender diversity there was in the industry.
“Jobs in STEM fields – related to science, technology, engineering and math – are among the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs in America,” the report said. “But there remains tremendous inequality in the field along racial and gender lines, which can affect where potential employees can choose to relocate.”
Dallas’ spot at No. 9 is an improvement over the previous year, when SmartAsset ranked it at No. 17, right behind Fort Worth. This year Fort Worth did not make the cut. Houston was the only other Texas city in the top ten this year, coming in at No. 6. Overall, Houston is one of the most diverse cities in America. Surprisingly, Austin was not ranked this year at all.
According to the study, Dallas’ STEM workforce is about 18 percent black, 20 percent Asian, 15 percent Latino, and 45 percent white. Overall, the city was given an index score of 56.6. Dallas did however fall behind in gender diversity. The report stated that only about 24 percent of the STEM workforce is female, which was the lowest number of any of the 15 ranked cities.
While the city’s gender diversity numbers did not improve from the previous year, it did become more diverse by most other measures. Last year, SmartAsset’s study showed Dallas’ STEM workforce was made up by about 70 percent white, 12 percent Latino, 18 percent black, and less than 5 percent Asian workers.
“Despite efforts to promote gender inclusivity, and even though STEM jobs are some of the fastest-growing jobs for women in the U.S., it is clear that plenty of work remains to be done,” the report said.
The city with the most diverse STEM workforce was Washington D.C., followed by Philadelphia and Sacramento. Across the country, the STEM industry’s workforce on average was less than 28 percent female, according to SmartAsset. The report also said that on average the STEM workforce in the 35 cities it looked at is about 54 percent white, 17 percent Asian and 9 percent Latino.
