Sep 28, 2024 - Economy
Where women outnumber men, and vice versa
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America's gender split is turning into a regional rivalry: men in the West, women in the East.
Why it matters: Geographical gender differences — if they grow — could help drive deep rifts in American society.
Zoom in: The divide is driven by institutions and industries with deep gender imbalances that are especially clear in the West, AP notes.
- The San Diego metro area, dotted with military bases, has almost 104 men for every 100 women, according to U.S. Census data. Men make up more than 80% of America's armed forces.
- California's Silicon Valley, Austin, Texas, and Seattle host a big share of U.S. tech companies, which employ a workforce that is almost two-thirds male.
Between the lines: Big cities and areas with college campuses typically have more women than men, the Census Bureau said in a report last year.
- Among large U.S. counties, the three with the largest ratio of women compared to men were all home to universities.
- There is a wide gender gap in college enrollment: women made up 58% of the total undergraduate population in 2021.
Women most heavily outnumbered adult men in Baltimore, Atlanta, Philadelphia and New York when considering metro areas with more than 1.5 million residents.
- One possible explanation is mass incarceration, which has removed hundreds of thousands of men from Black neighborhoods.
