Phoenix ranks in middle of country for business opportunities for women
Aug 3, 2014, 1:39 PM | Updated: 1:39 pm
PHOENIX — If you’re a woman looking to start a business or climb a corporate ladder, Phoenix is a solid place to be.
An analysis conducted by the American City Business Journals found that Arizona’s capital ranks 40th among the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country for offering business opportunities to women, as reported by the Phoenix Business Journal.
The District of Columbia finished first in the study, followed by the San Francisco-Oakland area, San Jose, Baltimore and Denver.
Phoenix ranked slightly ahead of Little Rock, Arkansas; Kansas City and Milwaukee on the top 100 list.
The study used a 16-part formula within four categories: education, money, management and entrepreneurship. Each category was then graded with a five-star scale.
Phoenix earned a five-star scale in the money category, which measured a market’s female poverty rate, female share of people below the poverty line, median earnings for women and female earnings per $10,000 in male earnings.
The Business Journal says the median yearly earnings for a female in Phoenix is $27,784. For every $10,000 a man makes in Phoenix, a woman makes $7,711. Also, 53.4 percent of the people who live below the poverty line in Arizona’s capital are female, while the overall poverty rate for Phoenix women is 16.6 percent.
In the areas of management and entrepreneurship, Phoenix earned three-star ratings in the study. However, the city earned just one star in education.
What contributed to the low education score is Phoenix’s low percentage of women 25 and older with bachelor’s degrees. Only 27.4 percent of women age 25 and older in Phoenix hold bachelor’s degrees. Only 9.4 percent hold advanced degrees.
