Gender Pay Gap: Tucson in the Shit List, According to an Analysis

Yeah, it’s not so great to be a full-time working woman in Tucson—especially in terms of salary inequality.

The website SpareFoot.com analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau to find the best and worst metro areas for gender pay gap, and found that Tucson is in the bottom 10. 

In 2013, full-time working women earned 78 cents for every dollar earned by full-time working men, leaving “room for improvement, especially in the 100 most populous metro areas where women, on average, only make just over 71 cents per dollar men make,” according to the write up by SpareFoot.com’s Alexander Harris. 

So, the website based its findings on four things: Women’s median earnings in 2013, which is the most recent data available; five-year growth in women’s median earnings 2009-2013; women’s median earnings as a percentage of men’s in 2013; and five-year growth in women’s median earnings as a percentage of men’s 2009-2013.

In the top 10: Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York metro area was number 1; Syracuse, New York landed the second spot; and Worcester, Massachusetts/Connecticut is number 3.

1. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY Metro Area

2013 median salary: $30,021 (rank 18)
5-year growth median earnings: 12.9% (rank 7)
2013 median earnings as percentage of men’s: 74% (rank 36)
5-year growth in women’s median earnings as a percentage of men’s: 7.1% (rank 13)

2. Syracuse, NY Metro Area

2013 median salary: $26,507 (rank 37)
5-year growth median earnings: 15.1% (rank 2)
2013 median earnings as percentage of men’s: 72.5% (rank 44)
5-year growth in women’s median earnings as a percentage of men’s: 7.6% (rank 11)

3. Worcester, MA-CT Metro Area

2013 median salary: $30,307 (rank 14)
5-year growth median earnings: 9.3% (rank 21)
2013 median earnings as percentage of men’s: 70.2% (rank 59)
5-year growth in women’s median earnings as a percentage of men’s: 11.4% (rank 1)

And, here’s the info from Tucson:

Bottom ten: 10. Tucson

2013 median salary: $22,446 (rank 86)
5-year growth median earnings: 3% (rank 84)
2013 median earnings as percentage of men’s: 73.9% (rank 37)
5-year growth in women’s median earnings as a percentage of men’s: 2% (rank 76)

Check out the entire list on SpareFoot.com.

This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2015.