In MoCo, working women earn the most compared to their male counterparts in Germantown, Gaithersburg and Wheaton (pictured), according to Census data.One of the fun things about Census data is that you can find statistics on just about anything. While doing some research for a studio project last week, I noticed that the Census' "fact sheets" list the median earnings of male and female full-time workers in a given place. In other words, it's a rough estimate of the "gender gap" in a community - the myth that women make 76 cents to the dollar their male counterparts make which, according to this article, is actually derived from median yearly earnings.
The following figures are taken from the 2005-2007 American Community Survey or, if that wasn't available for a certain place, from the 2000 Census. (Those numbers are marked with an asterisk.) I didn't look at the numbers within any greater context, so we can't draw any big conclusions from this.
Within MoCo, the gender gap is most pronounced in the most affluent communities, while smaller in the Upcounty and East County. Olney has the widest gender gap in the county, closely followed by Chevy Chase. In Germantown, women make 93 cents to the dollar their male counterparts earn.
The following figures are taken from the 2005-2007 American Community Survey or, if that wasn't available for a certain place, from the 2000 Census. (Those numbers are marked with an asterisk.) I didn't look at the numbers within any greater context, so we can't draw any big conclusions from this.
Within MoCo, the gender gap is most pronounced in the most affluent communities, while smaller in the Upcounty and East County. Olney has the widest gender gap in the county, closely followed by Chevy Chase. In Germantown, women make 93 cents to the dollar their male counterparts earn.
| City/Census Designated Place (CDP) | Median household income | Median earnings for male full-time, year-round workers | Median earnings for female full-time, year-round workers | Female earnings compared to male earnings |
| Germantown | 71,226 | 53,513 | 49,596 | 93% |
| City of Gaithersburg | 74,883 | 54,686 | 50,093 | 92% |
| Wheaton-Glenmont | 71,146 | 43,609 | 39,373 | 90% |
| Silver Spring | 67,255 | 49,952 | 44,040 | 88% |
| Potomac | 154,370 | 100,000+ | 78,442 | 78% |
| City of Rockville | 86,085 | 69,955 | 53,492 | 76% |
| Bethesda | 117,723 | 100,000 | 74,072 | 74% |
| Town of Chevy Chase* | 160,331 | 100,000+ | 66,705 | 67% |
| Olney | 116,319 | 92,655 | 60,065 | 65% |
so much more AFTER THE JUMP . . .
And within East County, there's less of a pattern. Affluent Colesville actually has a wider gender gap than predicted by the 76-cent myth, but so does Fairland, which has a large concentration of affordable housing.
| City/Census Designated Place (CDP) | Median household income | Median earnings for male full-time, year-round workers | Median earnings for female full-time, year-round workers | Female earnings compared to male earnings |
| Wheaton-Glenmont | 71,146 | 43,609 | 39,373 | 90% |
| Calverton* | 63,990 | 44,425 | 39,563 | 89% |
| Silver Spring | 67,255 | 49,952 | 44,040 | 88% |
| White Oak | 67,959 | 48,230 | 42,455 | 88% |
| Takoma Park* | 48,490 | 40,668 | 35,073 | 86% |
| Burtonsville* | 73,241 | 52,003 | 41,133 | 79% |
| Colesville* | 91,696 | 61,119 | 46,169 | 75% |
| Fairland | 70,059 | 60,037 | 48,017 | 75% |
As a whole, Montgomery County's gender gap fits the "76-cent myth," but compared to the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland, it's pretty wide:
| City/Census Designated Place (CDP) | Median household income | Median earnings for male full-time, year-round workers | Median earnings for female full-time, year-round workers | Female earnings compared to male earnings |
| MoCo | 89,284 | 69,186 | 53,125 | 77% |
| Maryland | 66,873 | 53,428 | 43,248 | 81% |
| Washington, D.C. | 52,187 | 51,278 | 49,006 | 95% |
So, long story short: if you're a working woman, you might want to consider working in/moving to Germantown, Gaithersburg, or Wheaton. On the other hand, if the concept of traditional gender roles/being a trophy wife appeals to you, check out Olney, Chevy Chase or Bethesda.
3 comments:
You might find it revelatory to make the same geographical contrasts between the numbers of multi-parent homes and single-parent/female-headed homes.
It could very well be a function of various necessities combining.
For example, it might well be that the single-mom families are less likely to be able to afford a vehicle's expenses (or, affording one, less likely to use it more than absolutely necessary). Thus they would tend to concentrate in "walkable" areas and/or areas very well served by mass-transit.
Additionally, single-mom families might have a female head of household who must be somewhat better paid than would be non-single or non-moms, simply because if they can't afford to raise their kids on what they're paid, they'll be looking elsewhere for better.
Do you have a link for these tables?
I gave up trying to find them on my own, for these places within county.
Hey, rb -
Go to census.gov and click on "American FactFinder" on the left. Enter the city and state in the boxes, hit "OK," and you'll get a table listing all of the data about that place. You might have to click on a specific category for more information (the data I used for this post was under "Economics.") Hope that helps!
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