Say It Ain't So

Dallas is a better city for women than Houston? When it comes to the wage gap, the stats are cruelly clear

Finance site NerdWallet recently dove into the gender wage gap across the United States, and Texas ought to be proud: It is home to one of only 22 U.S. cities where women out-earn men. According to NerdWallet’s research, women in Dallas now earn 100.5 percent of what men do.

Between 2005 and 2013, the pay gap in Dallas changed by 172 percent. That change was the second most significant in the country. Top honors goes to Oakland, California, where the gap changed a whopping 1,076 percent. Females there now earn 108.8 percent of what their male counterparts do.

Compare that to the national stats. According to NerdWallet, women make about 79 percent of what men do — although the current wage gap is an improvement from 2005, when the median annual income for women who worked full time was 76.6 percent of a man’s.

For its analysis, NerdWallet used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey in 2005 and 2013 to rank nearly 500 cities in three unique ways:

Using data on the median income of full-time, year-round male and female workers, they found the rate of change for each city’s wage gap from 2005 to 2013 and ranked them to find where the wage gap was closing the fastest.
They used the same 2013 income data to calculate women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s. After ranking the cities, they found 22 places where women’s wages were more than 100 percent of men’s.
Using the income data, they found the percentage change in women’s wages from 2005 to 2013 and ranked the cities to see where women had the largest gains. The data included the percentage change in men’s income over the same time.

Rounding out the top five cities where the gender pay gap closed fastest are three places in Florida: Miramar (No. 3), Orlando (No. 4) and Hollywood (No. 5). The top five cities where women out-earn men are Inglewood, California; Trenton, New Jersey; Orlando, Florida; Albany, New York; and Carson, California.

Midland and McAllen are the only other Texas cities mentioned in the survey. They rank Nos. 8 and 20, respectively, on the list of cities where women’s wages increased the most since 2005.

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GDP Growth

CEO magazine names Texas 'best state for business' for the 22nd year

Aerial view of skyline downtown Houston and highway traffic at buffalo bayou park, Houston, Texas, USA

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The Texas business sector recently received a double dose of good news.

For the 22nd consecutive year, Chief Executive magazine named Texas the best state for business. In tandem with that achievement, preliminary new estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show the size of Texas’ economy jumped to $2.9 trillion in 2025, up by a nation-leading growth rate of 2.5 percent compared with the previous year.

Speaking about the Chief Executive honor, Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas benefits from pro-growth policies, a strong workforce, strategic investments in education, training for high-demand skills and the presence of critical infrastructure.

“Texas is where businesses innovate and where opportunity abounds. … We will continue to move at the speed of business as we build a more prosperous Texas for generations to come,” the governor says.

An annual Chief Executive survey of CEOs, presidents and business owners determines which state is the best for business. Texas has landed at No. 1 every year since Chief Executive launched the ranking.

“Truly, this is an incredible run that Texas has going,” says Christopher Chalk, publisher of Chief Executive. “CEOs are a tough group to please, and yet year after year Texas continues to earn the top spot—no small feat.”

It’s also no small feat for a state to notch annual gains in its gross domestic product (GDP), a measurement of economic power based on the value of goods and services produced each year.

With an estimated GDP of $2.9 trillion last year, Texas maintains its position as the eighth-largest global economy compared with the nations of the world, based on preliminary estimates from the International Monetary Fund.

In reference to Texas’ GDP growth, Abbott says the Lone Star State is “the premier destination for job creators from across the country and world. We will keep attracting world-class investment, create jobs, and expand opportunity for Texans for generations to come.”

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This article first appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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