Professional women are more successful in Cary than any other place in the U.S., according to a new study from SmartAsset. In its third study of the “Cities Where Women Are Most Successful,” the financial information website ranked Cary No.1 when considering education, earnings and business ownership.
Other Triangle cities also fared well in the survey, with Durham coming in at ninth place and Raleigh placing 24th.
In a survey of 200 cities, Cary ranked in the top sixth in five categories:
- Percentage of women with a bachelor’s degree
- Median earnings for women working full-time
- Percentage of business owners who are women
- Housing costs as a percentage of women’s earnings
- Percentage of full-time working women earning $75,000 or more
More than 68% of women in Cary have a bachelor’s degree, the second-highest rate in this study. The town came in at No. 6 in terms of business ownership, with nearly 54% of all businesses in Cary owned by women. In the other metrics, the median earnings for women is nearly $62,000 with roughly 38% of full-time working women earning high incomes. Housing costs are relatively affordable, coming in at 27.8% of earnings.
Data for the study came from the Census Bureau’s 2018 1-year American Community Survey.
In March, SmartAsset also called Cary one of the Most Recession-Resistant Cities in the U.S., putting it eighth among 264 of the largest cities in the country. In that study, the town was rated highly for its low unemployment (3.2% in 2018) and its housing costs as a percentage of income, at less than 17%.
