For four years running, Washington, D.C. has come out as the best city for women in tech in SmartAsset's annual report.
But is everything as good as we make it out to be?
On the surface level, the answer is yes. Women make up 38.5 percent of the tech workforce in the District, the highest of any country by SmartAsset's measurements. After housing costs, women in tech come home with an average salary of $56,188 per year. And from 2013 to 2016, the number of tech jobs in the District grew by 33 percent — the third highest rate of all cities included in the study.
But when it comes to pay, all is not equal in D.C.'s tech community. According to this year's report, women in tech are paid 91 percent of what men in tech are paid in the city, and that's down 4 percent from last year. But this isn't an isolated occurrence — last year's salaries were down 4.5 percent from a ratio of 99.3 percent to 94.8 percent.
Of note, D.C.'s averages are still better than the national average which shows that women in tech are paid 84 percent of men in tech are paid — about the same as last year.
In the 2018 report, SmartAsset looked at four different metrics in cities which had at least 200,000 residents: gender pay gap, income after housing costs, women's representation in the workforce and the percent growth in tech jobs. SmartAsset then removed any city which did not have statistically reliable data, leaving them with 58 cities to rank.
While Washington, D.C. came out on top, neighboring city Arlington, Virginia was tied for sixth position and nearby metro area Baltimore, Maryland came out in third position. Arlington was ranked 22nd in 2017's report, while Baltimore's spot remained unchanged.
Take a look at the list yourself:
