DOWN TO A SCIENCE

3 North Texas cities skyrocket to top of new ranking for women in STEM

Women hold more than a quarter of the STEM jobs in Austin, according to the study.

Amid Women’s History Month and on the heels of last week’s Equal Pay Day, North Texas women working in STEM fields appear to be on the right career path, and in the right place, according to one study.

In Commercial Café’s 2021 ranking of the top U.S. cities for women working in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math, Dallas and two suburbs — Frisco and Plano — rank among top Southern cities for women in STEM. Dallas ranks eighth, while Frisco comes in slightly ahead at No. 7, and Plano rounds out the top 10.

According to the study, STEM jobs account for 5.6 percent of all jobs in Dallas, with women holding 28.3 percent of those positions, approximately 10,827 jobs. The median annual income for women in STEM in Dallas is $70,105.

In Frisco, STEM jobs account for 14.8 percent of all jobs, with women in 30.6 percent of those positions, about 4,723 positions. Their median annual income is $83,854.

And in Plano, STEM jobs account for 14.7 percent of all jobs, with women in 23.1 percent of those positions, approximately 5,243 positions. Their median annual income is $83,142.

The study, which breaks down the analysis based on four sectors of the country — West, Midwest, South, and Northeast — considered three key categories (each worth as many as 10 points) in determining the top cities for women working in STEM: local STEM-sector size, representation of women in STEM occupations, and median earnings.

Curiously, the top Southern city is Washington, D.C., which scored 13.57 points out of a possible 30 points. Wait, Washington, D.C. is a Southern city?

Back to Texas.

Unsurprisingly, Austin ranks highest among cities in the Lone Star State and the second-best Southern city, behind Washington, D.C., for women in STEM.

According to the study, STEM jobs account for 12.6 percent of all jobs in Austin, with women holding 25.6 percent of those positions, approximately 18,667 jobs.

As the 12th-best city nationwide, Austin received a total score of 13.18 points out of a possible 30.

Though the study takes note of the maddening gender wage gap and the fact that women remain vastly underrepresented in most STEM fields and majors, Austin, in particular, has made strides in the past few years, gaining 4,347 new women STEM employees since 2015 — the biggest bump in the region. Additionally, the median annual income for women working in STEM jobs in Austin is $72,854, which represents 31.1 percent growth since 2015.

In both Dallas and Plano, the percentage of women in STEM jobs has decreased by about 1 percent since 2015, but median annual income has jumped 34.1 percent in Dallas and 10.5 percent in Plano. In Frisco, the percentage of women in STEM jobs has increased by 0.6 percent since 2015, and income has grown by just 0.4 percent.

Apart from California, with 22 cities named in the study as best for women in STEM, Texas comes in second overall, with 14 cities included.

Houston ranked fifth in the region, with a total score of 11.68 points

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Jobs report

Texas ranks among 10 best states to find a job, says new report

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

You have a better chance of landing a job in Texas than in most other states.

If you’re hunting for a job in Texas amid a tough employment market, you stand a better chance of landing it here than you might in other states.

A new ranking by personal finance website WalletHub of the best states for jobs puts Texas at No. 7. The Lone Star State lands at No. 2 in the economic environment category and No. 18 in the job market category.

Massachusetts tops the list, and West Virginia appears at the bottom.

To determine the most attractive states for employment, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 34 key indicators of economic health and job market strength. Ranking factors included employment growth, median annual income, and average commute time.

“Living in one of the best states for jobs can provide stable conditions for the long term, helping you ride out the fluctuations that the economy will experience in the future,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo says.

In September, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas led the U.S. in job creation with the addition of 195,600 jobs over the past 12 months.

While Abbott proclaimed Texas is “America’s jobs leader,” the state’s level of job creation has recently slowed. In June, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas noted that the state’s year-to-date job growth rate had dipped to 1.8 percent, and that even slower job growth was expected in the second half of this year.

The August unemployment rate in Texas stood at 4.1 percent, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Throughout 2025, the monthly rate in Texas has been either four percent or 4.1 percent.

By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate in August was 4.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2025, the monthly rate for the U.S. has ranged from 4 percent to 4.3 percent.

Here’s a rundown of the August unemployment rates in Texas’ four biggest metro areas:

Austin — 3.9 percent
Dallas-Fort Worth — 4.4 percent
San Antonio — 4.4 percent
Houston — 5 percent

Unemployment rates have remained steady this year despite layoffs and hiring freezes driven by economic uncertainty. However, the number of U.S. workers who’ve been without a job for at least 27 weeks has risen by 385,000 this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in August. That month, long-term unemployed workers accounted for about one-fourth of all unemployed workers.

An August survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed a record-low 44.9 percent of Americans were confident about finding a job if they lost their current one.

This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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