Women under 30 out-earned men in 16 cities across the country, including New York and Washington, D.C., a Pew Research analysis of Census data through 2019 finds.
The gender wage penalty is less severe when women are just starting out in their careers. Women aged 16-29 earn 93%, on average, of what men make, compared with 84% for all women.
- Young women and men earned about the same in 6 cities. And in the other 228 cities, Pew analyzed, young women earned less than men. In the other 228 cities, Pew analyzed, young women earned less than men.
The cities where women are getting ahead generally have plenty of jobs that require higher levels of education, says Marianne Cooper, a sociologist at Stanford who studies women and leadership. And women have been earning more college degrees than men for decades.
This edge in pay likely won't last as these women grow older. Women are promoted at a slower pace, Cooper said. And those who have children typically face a wage penalty. (Fathers typically get a wage bump.)
- "It’s unlikely that this finding will hold in the long run," Cooper said.
This data is from 2015-2019, and women's wages have actually been rising faster than men's lately, as a labor shortage pushes up pay.