Kansas City ranks near the top for women in technology jobs
The technology industry has historically been viewed as a boys club, but at least in Kansas City, women are faring better, according to a new survey.
A study by SmartAsset, a New York financial technology company, ranked Kansas City as the second best city in the country for women in technology. Washington was No. 1. Wichita was No. 11.
“In recent years, Kansas City has emerged as a leading city for tech startups and perhaps the top tech city not on the West Coast or in the Northeast,” SmartAsset said. “Women have played an important role in that development, and today Kansas City offers one of the country’s best environments for women in tech.”
According to the SmartAsset survey, women held nearly 33 percent of the tech jobs in the area. That was third highest of any city in the survey. Those occupations included software developers, programmers, network architects and information researchers.
Women in computer-related occupations earned a median annual salary — minus median annual housing costs — of $60,219, the survey said. The national average salary was $49,706.
Kansas City also scored well in the category of gender pay gap, with a 106.6 percent female-to-male earnings ratio. Arlington, Texas, was the only other city surveyed where women in tech jobs were paid the same as or more than men.
Kansas City came up short in one area — three-year employment growth. The area reported a 7 percent decline in the number of women holding tech jobs from 2010 to 2013, the latest data available.
SmartAsset used those four statistics to come up with a weighted score that placed Kansas City second among 54 cities surveyed. Relying on 2013 U.S. Census Bureau data, SmartAsset said it looked at cities with at least 200,000 residents and communities with a large enough tech workforce to be statistically significant.
The other cities in the top 10 were Fremont, Calif.; Houston; New York; Tucson; New Orleans; Milwaukee; Philadelphia and Plano, Texas.
To reach Steve Rosen, call 816-234-4879 or send email to srosen@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published March 3, 2015 at 11:20 AM with the headline "Kansas City ranks near the top for women in technology jobs."