• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change fake, is now threatening Brazil with tariffs over the deforestation of the Amazon

2

Current price of oil as of June 8, 2026

3

Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military

1

Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change fake, is now threatening Brazil with tariffs over the deforestation of the Amazon

2

Current price of oil as of June 8, 2026

3

Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
Successequal pay, pay equity, pay gap

Women outearn men in just a handful of U.S. cities, report finds—and not by a lot

By
Jane Thier
Jane Thier
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jane Thier
Jane Thier
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 27, 2024, 2:53 PM ET
Shot of a young businesswoman looking stressed out while working on a laptop in an office
Being consistently underpaid can be devastating, and it's the case for women almost everywhere.LumiNola - Getty Images

The more things change…you know the rest.

Recommended Video

Despite enormous strides across sectors, women still earn about 83 cents on the man’s dollar—yes, even now. The pandemic didn’t help matters; it ended up sidelining women, disproportionately yanking mothers out of the workforce, often permanently, and most jobs failed to provide adequate child care support. The U.S. remains the only nation without guaranteed paid parental leave—save for Papua New Guinea. 

While men outnumber women in the workforce (even though women outnumber men on college campuses), in a handful of cities, women edge them out, albeit very narrowly. In a new analysis, GOBankingRates pored over Census data and studied U.S. cities with at least 20,000 inhabitants and drew up a list of those in which women outearn men. They tabulated just 40 cities in their report, and in each of them, women’s incomes just barely eke past men’s. 

Oakland, just outside San Francisco, is the largest city in the country where women earn more than men, GOBankingRates found. Nearly 360,000 people live in Oakland, and its bustling business opportunities and proximity to Silicon Valley make it a strong choice for many working women. Even better: Women in Oakland bring in a median salary of $68,200; men there earn just slightly less: $68,100.

“The biggest takeaway from our research is that women are outearning men in cities with relatively low median salaries,” Andrew Murray, lead content data researcher at GOBankingRates, tells Fortune in a statement. For instance, he notes that Jacksonville, North Carolina, ranked first in the report; women there outearn men by nearly 21%. But women’s median salary there is just $32,000, against men’s median $27,000—hardly worth celebrating. In the cities where women earn much higher base salaries, Murray says, “we found that men earn between 60% and 70% more.”

Take Los Altos, California; women there notch the highest salaries of those in any city GOBankingRates analyzed: $150,000, on average. But Los Altos men earn a median of $216,000—roughly 70% higher. “Ultimately, this reinforces the idea that there tends to be less of a gender pay gap among lower wage workers compared to higher end workers,” Murray says.

After Los Altos, women earn the most in Saratoga, Calif., ($140,000), McLean, Va., ($137,000), San Carlos, Calif., ($137,000) and Wellesley, Mass. ($130,000). But those cities didn’t make GOBankingRates’s official ranking, because men vastly outearn women in each of them.

The story is even grim in good old Jacksonville, N.C. As Murray explained, many high-ranked cities are home to large numbers of government employees—or are near a military base. Even though they’re more equal, jobs in those industries often pay substantially less across the board than private-sector jobs. “For example, Jacksonville, N.C. is home to a Marine Corps base, while several of the Maryland cities that ranked highest on our list are just outside Washington, D.C., and have high concentrations of government employees,” Murray said. 

The problem begins in undergrad, if not long before. Nearly 80% of college graduates with STEM degrees—recently deemed by the Federal Reserve as the degrees that lead to the highest-paying careers—are male. As a result, mostly men are working in high-paying industries. All the while, workers in traditionally female roles, like teaching and caregiving, are consistently and insultingly underpaid. 

“The fact that the male-female gender gap in lucrative college majors remains so vast after decades of women outnumbering men on college campuses suggests that women are still playing catch-up,” Alex Gailey, an analyst at Bankrate, wrote in a recent report on the topic.

Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman put her feelings about the devastating, enduring pay gap a bit more plainly in an interview last weekend: “I’m very aware that if I was Oliver Colman, I would be earning a f—k of a lot more than I am.”

The Fortune 500 Innovation Forum will convene Fortune 500 executives, U.S. policy officials, top founders, and thought leaders to help define what’s next for the American economy, Nov. 16-17 in Detroit. Apply here.
About the Author
By Jane Thier
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Success

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Success

penn
North Americatransit
‘I’m not focused on names at all’: Rumors of Trump Station replacing Penn Station in New York batted aside
By Philip Marcelo and The Associated PressJune 9, 2026
7 hours ago
Alex Karp
SuccessView from the C-Suite
Palantir CEO Alex Karp says executives who brag about their AI cuts might as well ‘sign up for the Bernie Sanders manifesto’
By Preston ForeJune 9, 2026
7 hours ago
Stephen Schwarzman’s grandfather inspired the Blackstone billionaire’s philanthropy: It was ‘his privilege to help others in need’
Successphilanthropy
Stephen Schwarzman’s grandfather inspired the Blackstone billionaire’s philanthropy: It was ‘his privilege to help others in need’
By Sydney LakeJune 9, 2026
7 hours ago
wood
North AmericaObituary
One of America’s greatest historians just died at 92 after being hit by a car in a supermarket parking lot
By Hillel Italie and The Associated PressJune 9, 2026
7 hours ago
Teenage boy on laptop
SuccessJobs
Around 22 million teenagers are making their pocket money on video games, online reselling, and in-game platforms like Roblox
By Emma BurleighJune 9, 2026
7 hours ago
noah
SuccessMedia
This CEO says he’s helping journalists double their salaries by going to work for brands. But is it journalism—and does it matter?
By Nick LichtenbergJune 9, 2026
11 hours ago

Most Popular

Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change fake, is now threatening Brazil with tariffs over the deforestation of the Amazon
Environment
Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change fake, is now threatening Brazil with tariffs over the deforestation of the Amazon
By Sasha RogelbergJune 8, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of June 8, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 8, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 8, 2026
1 day ago
Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
Asia
Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
By Kate O'Keeffe and BloombergJune 8, 2026
23 hours ago
Gen Zers are arriving at college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates
Success
Gen Zers are arriving at college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates
By Preston ForeJune 7, 2026
2 days ago
'We are rapidly running out of time': Watchdog sounds Social Security alarm after 22% cut confirmed for 2032
Economy
'We are rapidly running out of time': Watchdog sounds Social Security alarm after 22% cut confirmed for 2032
By Nick LichtenbergJune 9, 2026
6 hours ago
'The golden years are not golden': Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power because they're terrified of outliving their money
Economy
'The golden years are not golden': Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power because they're terrified of outliving their money
By Nick LichtenbergJune 7, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.