In a recent study seeking out the U.S. cities with the most diverse workforces in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Memphis took the number one spot.
Women make up just 26 percent of the national STEM workforce (there are 5.6 million men holding STEM jobs in the U.S. compared with 1.95 million women). In Memphis, the gap is far smaller, with women making up 39 percent of the city’s STEM workforce, the 7th highest percentage of women in the national study. Memphis likewise scored well for racial diversity. The city’s STEM workforce is 52 percent white, 33 percent Black, 12 percent Asian, with three percent Latino or Hispanic.
While STEM jobs offer some of the highest salaries and most valuable benefits, the industries have notoriously lacked diversity. Census data reflects that the U.S. STEM workforce is 74 percent male and 69 percent white. In a quest for solutions to this problem,
SmartAsset took a look at which U.S. cities were most successful in STEM diversity, to see what best practices could be mined from those local strategies.
To find the most diverse cities, SmartAsset examined U.S. Census data on the demographics of STEM employment in the 210 U.S. cities with the largest STEM workforces. Following Memphis on the list were Stockton and Sacramento, Calif., respectively. Interestingly, missing on the list are typical STEM hubs like San Francisco (which ranked 29th overall), Austin (58th overall), San Jose (61st overall), Denver (89th overall) and Seattle (95th overall). The STEM workforce in each of these cities were more than 70 percent male and less than 5 percent Black.
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