Women Hit Pay Wall

Austin is great for female entrepreneurs, but not for making money

Austin is no stranger to praise. It seems every day there is a new list that ranks Austin No. 1 in this, or best in that. Today, we have a list for the ladies: Austin has been ranked one of the best cities in the U.S. for female entrepreneurs.

With our startup culture, low unemployment rate and high percentage of residents with advanced degrees, Austin is cultivating a culture for successful female-led ventures.

According to researcher Sreekar Jasthi and his team at Nerdwallet.com, Austin is the 8th best city for women-owned businesses. Noting our startup culture, low unemployment rate and high percentage of residents with advanced degrees, Austin is cultivating a culture for successful female-led ventures. (Jasthi also noted that being in business-friendly Texas helps, too.)

Austin's growth mimics a greater national trend in businesses owned by women outpacing general business growth. Explains Jasthi, "Across the U.S., one thing that really caught my eye was businesses that were owned by women grew about 59 percent since 1997. The rate of businesses in general [only grew] 30 percent."

Despite this growth, Austin fell four spots from last year and ranked last in the top ten cities for salaries, with a median income of $40,356 for full-time female workers. According to Census data, the median income for Austin in general is $52,431, a considerable discrepancy.

By comparison, Washington, DC, which is ranked No. 1 on the list, has a median income for women working full-time of $60,116. Jasthi concedes that though Austin's income is the lowest in the top ten (our hipster sister city Portland, Oregon came in with the second lowest median income of $41,728), it still ranked high because of Austin's relatively low cost of living compared to the rest of the cities.

What other cities made the list? Along with DC, San Francisco and Seattle round out the top three. San Jose, another technology hub located in the heart of Silicon Valley, came in right behind Austin at No. 9.

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Power Up

$1.4 billion Texas project to match 446,000 cars in clean energy yearly

Photo courtesy of SMECI

The San Miguel Electric Cooperative has received a major investment for clean energy.

The United States Department of Agriculture recently announced that San Miguel Electric Cooperative Inc., located in Christine, Texas, in Atascosa County, just outside of San Antonio, will transition its operations to produce 600 megawatts of energy using solar panels and a battery energy storage system (BESS).

The project is expected to reduce climate pollution by 1.8 tons annually, the equivalent to removing 446,000 cars from the road each year, says USDA.

The project with the San Miguel Electric Cooperative plans to use the more than $1.4 billion investment to procure 600 megawatts of renewable energy through solar voltaic panels and a battery energy storage system to power 47 counties across rural South Texas. The clean project also hopes to support as many as 600 jobs.

This is part of the more than $4.37 billion in clean energy investments through the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program, which has rural electric cooperatives supporting the economy via job creation, lowering electricity costs for businesses and families, and reducing climate pollution. The New ERA was made possible by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which was the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936.

San Miguel plans to convert its operations to a 400-megawatt solar generation facility and 200-megawatt battery storage facility, and the transition should be complete by 2027. Currently, San Miguel produces 391 megawatts of electricity through a contract with South Texas Electric Cooperative (STEC).

“USDA is committed to enhancing the quality of life and improving air and water in our rural communities,” Secretary Tom Vilsack says in a news release. “The Inflation Reduction Act’s historic investments enable USDA to partner with rural electric cooperatives to strengthen America’s energy security and lower electricity bills for hardworking families, farmers and small business owners.”

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This story originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

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