mind the gap

Austin is one of the worst U.S. cities for women to work in if they want to make as much as a man

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Our gals in Austin aren't doing so hot on this list.

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We'd love to say that the gender pay gap is ancient history, but the numbers say otherwise. Nationwide, the gap is still significant, and even though Texas recently ranked as the fifth-best state for women in business, our gals in Austin aren't doing so hot on this list.

The latest Census Bureau says women make 18 percent less money than men do. We know the numbers for Texas and several of its cities, thanks to a new study by small biz blog Chamber of Commerce. It investigated the earnings for full-time male and female workers in 170 of the most populous cities in the United States — so we can't attribute this gap to women working less. It did not provide data by industry.

The analysis found that Texas has the 29th largest pay gap out of all 50 states, with women making nearly $11,000 less than men. Texas women can be glad they don’t live in Wyoming, which has the largest pay gap of the states, at almost $19,000.

The city with the largest gap in the United States is Sunnyvale, California, home to Silicon Valley, with an earnings difference of $40,584 between men and women. Actually, California cities make up half of the top 10 largest gender pay gaps.

Texas, however, has two towns in the top 10. Coming in at No. 2 is Frisco, and McKinney lands at No. 5. Frisco men make nearly $40,000 more than women, while McKinney men make $29,000 more than women. Austin was No. 13, with a gap of $20,516, but it wasn't quite as bad as Plano at No. 12, with that gap adding up to $20,736. That small win could buy Austinites a pretty nice dinner for two, or an okay lawn mower by the end of the year.

Houston did slightly better than average at No. 114 spot out of 170 of the most-populated cities in the U.S. Dallas has the smallest gender pay gap in Texas, coming in at No. 166 with just $192 between full-time working men and women.

Here's how the rest of Texas ranks:

No. 25 – Pasadena
No. 30 – Lubbock
No. 45 – Fort Worth
No. 70 – Irving
No. 71 – Corpus Christi
No. 74 – San Antonio
No. 89 – Arlington
No. 93 – Grand Prairie
No 97 – El Paso
No. 101 – Laredo
No. 110 – Amarillo
No. 125 – Brownsville
No. 134 – Garland

The full study can be found on chamberofcommerce.org.

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Top of the class

UT Austin ranks among best U.S. schools for entrepreneurship in 2025

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Photo by Alexander Williams on Unsplash

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The University of Texas at Austin has earned two top-10 spots on The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s lists of the best graduate and undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies for 2025.

UT Austin's McCombs School of Business ranks seventh in the graduate category, and UT ranks second in the undergraduate category.

The school is no stranger to the prestigious national lists. In the 2024 rankings, UT also appeared as No. 2 among undergraduate programs, and No. 6 in the ranking for the best graduate programs.

This year marks the fourth time that the school has landed in the top 5 on the undergraduate side, and the 12th time in 15 years that McCombs has made the top 10 among graduate programs in the annual ranking, UT notes in a news release.

The only other schools in Texas to make either top-10 list for 2025 were Rice University (No. 1 graduate school) and the University of Houston (No. 1 undergraduate program).

Rankings for The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s 2025 lists were based on a survey of administrators at nearly 300 schools in the U.S., Canada, and Europe that offer entrepreneurship studies. Among the more than 40 factors used for the rankings were academic programs, faculty credentials, mentorship opportunities, and alumni entrepreneurship ventures.

"If the focus of the MBA program at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin were to be summed up in one word, it would be 'collaboration,'" reads the 2025 graduate schools report. "Students in more than 20 concentrations uniformly crow over its 'incredibly collaborative culture,' citing the 'supportive culture' as a top reason they ultimately picked the program. As a 'top 20 school,' the 'rigorous academic[s]' and 'focus on clean energy,' 'technology,' and 'entrepreneurship,' are other stand-out elements of the program."

The top 10 schools on the list of 50 best graduate schools for entrepreneurship studies in 2025 are:

1. Rice University
2. University of California-Los Angeles
3. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
4. Washington University in St. Louis
5. Babson College
6. University of Washington
7. University of Texas at Austin
8. University of Virginia
9. Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands
10. University of South Florida

The top 10 schools on the list of 50 best undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies in 2025 are:

1. University of Houston
2. University of Texas at Austin
3. Babson College
4. University of Washington
5. Washington University in St. Louis
6. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
7. University of Maryland-College Park
8. Miami University of Ohio
9. Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico
10. Northeastern University

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The story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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