Houston is the top city in Texas and one of the top U.S. markets for women in tech, according to a recent study.
The Bayou City ranked No. 3 on SmartAsset's eighth-annual best cities for women in tech study, released June 24. Houston ranked only behind Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., in this year's study, which analyzes gender pay gap in the technology sector, income relative to housing costs, tech job growth and women as a percentage of the total tech workforce.
Houston jumped up four spots after ranking No. 7 in SmartAsset's 2021 women in tech study. Of the 60 major markets included in the study, Houston ranked first in pay parity between men and women: Women earned 98% of what men earned in Houston's tech sector on average, SmartAsset found. Houston ranked No. 6 overall in 2020 and No. 4 in 2019.
A relatively affordable cost of living was another strength for the Bayou City market. The study found women tech workers in Houston earned more than $65,000 after accounting for housing expenses, which is the ninth-highest in the nation. Of the employees in Houston's tech sector, 27.5% are women, just over the U.S. average of 26%.
Technology jobs in Houston between 2017 and 2020 grew by about 13%, less than the national average of about 17%. Meanwhile, Austin saw three-year tech employment grow by over 27%, and Dallas saw three-year growth of over 34%.
Another 178,000 tech jobs are projected to be added nationwide this year, SmartAsset said.
The only other Texas market that cracked this year's top 10 was Fort Worth, which ranked No. 6. The SmartAsset study notes that, surprisingly, no cities in California made the top 10 in 2022.
SmartAsset's Best Cities for Women in Tech — 2022 edition:
- Arlington, Virginia
- Washington, D.C.
- Houston, Texas
- Baltimore
- Chandler, Arizona
- Fort Worth
- Durham, North Carolina
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Cincinnati
- Boston
