women innovators

Austin declared one of the top 10 hotspots for women in tech

Austin is the No. 6 best city for women in tech.

Getty Images

Austin and six more Texas cities are soaring among the best places in the U.S. for women in tech, a new report says.

The Texas capital city ranked No. 6 nationwide in SmartAsset's new report, "Best and Worst Cities for Women in Tech — 2026 Study," which compared the 50 biggest U.S. cities across four metrics:

Gender pay gap — women's median earnings as a percentage of men’s median earnings in tech
The share of all tech workers that are women
The overall concentration of employment for tech workers, defined as "tech workers as a share of the local workforce"
Women tech workers’ median earnings, adjusted for regional price parity

For the purpose of the study, tech workers are defined as "city residents employed in computer and mathematical occupations."

The study's findings show that more than 12,000 tech workers in Austin are women, or nearly 23 percent of the total tech workforce in the city. Surprisingly, tech workers in general make up less than 9 percent of the total Austin workforce.

However, women tech workers in Austin have a sizeable gap to cross to receive equal pay compared to their male counterparts in the same industry. Women tech workers make about $99,500 in median earnings after adjusting for regional price parity, which is only 80 percent of what male tech workers make, SmartAsset found.

There are only two U.S. cities where women in tech earn more than what their male counterparts: Miami and Memphis, Tennessee. Women tech workers in Miami make an adjusted $88,650 in median earnings, or 101.7 percent of what men in tech make. In Memphis, women make $84,718 in adjusted earnings, or 101.5 percent of what men in tech earn.

The findings also assert that women remain underrepresented in the nation's overall tech sector, despite making up nearly half of the total workforce. Only 22.6 percent of the U.S.'s tech labor force is made up of women, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"Opportunities for women in tech can vary considerably by location, and these differences shape access to jobs, career advancement and earning potential," the report's author wrote. "In some places, women account for a larger share of tech workers, face narrower pay gaps and enjoy a stronger local labor market. In others, they may encounter a more challenging career environment."

The six other Texas cities that earned spots in the report are Houston (No. 15), Fort Worth (No. 26), Dallas (No. 32), Arlington (No. 38), San Antonio (No. 42), and El Paso (No. 49).

The top 10 best U.S. cities for women in tech are:

No. 1 – San Jose, California
No. 2 – Seattle, Washington
No. 3 – San Francisco, California
No. 4 – Atlanta, Georgia
No. 5 – Baltimore, Maryland
No. 6 – Austin, Texas
No. 7 – Oakland, California
No. 8 – Portland, Oregon
No. 9 – Boston, Massachusetts
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

GIFTED AND TALENTED

San Marcos anthropologist awarded coveted MacArthur 'genius grant'

Photo courtesy of the MacArthur Foundation

Forensic anthropologist Kate Spradley identifies and repatriates remains of migrants along the Texas-Mexico border.

Three Texans have been named 2026 MacArthur Fellows, one of the most prestigious honors in the U.S. for artists, scientists, and scholars. Among them is San Marcos-based forensic anthropologist Kate Spradley, the first MacArthur Fellow at Texas State University.

Dallas-based historian Ariel Ron and San Antonio artist Vincent Valdez were also on the list of 20 recipients of the “genius grants” given by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Each fellow will receive $800,000 over five years, with no strings attached.

Individuals do not apply for the honor. The grants are awarded via a confidential, multi-step process managed by the foundation, and many recipients express surprise that they were considered for the fellowship.

“While individuals will have a track record of significant achievement, the fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award — it is an investment in a person's originality, insight, and potential,” wrote MacArthur on its website. “The Fellows Program is proactively working to foster and enable innovative, imaginative, and ground-breaking ideas, thinking, and strategies.”

At Texas State, Spradley founded Operation Identification in 2013 — a program that identifies and repatriates the remains of migrants who died along the Texas-Mexico border. She is also a cofounder of the Forensic Border Coalition, which pushes for policy changes at the local and national levels.

In San Antonio, Valdez is currently serving as Alamo Colleges’ inaugural artist-in-residence. Born on the South Side and now splitting time between San Antonio and Houston, he is known for large, hyperrealistic drawings and paintings of Mexican American life. More recently, he has turned his focus to broader sociopolitical issues in works like The Strangest Fruit, a series of paintings confronting the lynching of Latinos.

Ron is a historian at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he directs the Clements Center for Southwest Studies. His research focuses on how Northern agriculture shaped economic growth and federal power in 19th-century America. Grassroots Leviathan, his 2020 book, challenges the notion of an industrial North versus an agrarian South.

A full list of the 2026 MacArthur Fellows can be found online.

arts visual arts macarthur grants grants