SmartAsset (smartasset.com), a financial technology company that looks to provide transparent, automated, and accurate advice on major personal finance decisions, recently published a blog detailing the best cities for STEM diversity. Using US Census data on the demographics of STEM employment in the 210 US cities with the largest STEM workforces, staff looked at the racial and ethnic makeup of a city’s STEM workforce, calculating an index score based on the distribution of the workforce among the eight primary racial and ethnic groups tracked by the Census Bureau. The more evenly spread a city’s workforce was among these eight groups, the higher the score.

 

It also calculated a score based on gender diversity, and averaged the two scores. The higher the score, the greater racial, ethnic, and gender diversity within that locale.

 

Key Findings

 

Nine of the top ten cities are in either the mid-Atlantic region or California. Missing are typical STEM hubs such as San Francisco (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.

 

Memphis leads the way for STEM diversity. The city’s STEM workforce had the second highest level of racial and ethnic diversity of any in its study at 52 percent White, 33 percent Black, 12 percent Asian, and 3 percent Latino or Hispanic. It also rated well for gender diversity, with women composing 39 percent of its STEM workforce, compared to a national average of 26 percent.

 

Census data reflects that the US STEM workforce is 74 percent male and 69 percent White.

 

And the top ten are:

 

Memphis

Stockton, CA

Sacramento, CA

Washington, DC

Philadelphia

Baltimore

Oakland, CA

New York City

Los Angeles

Chula Vista, CA