Report: Here's how Houston ranks in terms of its gender pay gap

by the numbers

It's 2024 and women are still making less money than men. Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

It's 2024 and women are still making less money than men, thus keeping the unfortunate reality of the wage gap alive. But at least in Houston, the wage gap isn't as bad as other Texas cities, according to a new earnings study by Chamber of Commerce.

Houston ranked No. 142 on the list, which examined earnings for full-time workers in 170 of the most populous cities in the United States.

The study found that, in 2024, men in Houston are currently making $4,474 more than women — a figure that's significantly lower than the national wage gap, which is a little over $11,000.

The U.S. city with the worst gender pay gap is none other than Frisco, a Dallas suburb. Men in Frisco are currently making a staggering $52,216 more than women, which is more than $12,000 more than the gap in 2023.

Also in North Texas, McKinney remained in the No. 5 spot for the second consecutive year. McKinney men make $24,568 more than women, which is a $4,400 decrease year-over-year. Plano's gender wage gap has worsened since 2023: The Dallas suburb is now listed among the top 10 worst pay gaps in the U.S., climbing to No. 6. The study says the Plano's wage gap is now $23,415, or nearly $2,300 more than last year.

Statewide gender pay gap

Chamber of Commerce found that Texas' gender pay gap has increased since last year; The 2023 study found that women made nearly $11,000 less than men, and that discrepancy has widened in 2024 to nearly $12,000.

However, Texas' ranking has improved 10 spots from No. 29 last year to No. 19 this year.

For added context, New Hampshire has the No. 1 worst pay gap in the nation, with men making over $18,000 more than women.

Other Texas cities that earned spots in the report are:

  • No. 20 – Amarillo
  • No. 22 – Laredo
  • No. 24 – Austin
  • No. 30 – Corpus Christi
  • No. 31 – Pasadena
  • No. 33 – Irving
  • No. 52 – Lubbock
  • No. 59 – El Paso
  • No. 65 – Grand Prairie
  • No. 81 – Fort Worth
  • No. 118 – Dallas
  • No. 121 – San Antonio
  • No. 125 – Arlington
  • No. 167 – Brownsville
  • No. 168 – Garland

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

A new study finds how Houston — and other Texas cities — rank in terms of the pay gap between male and female workers. Photo via Getty Images

How Houston stacks up when it comes to its gender pay gap

mind the gap

Pi wasn't the only thing celebrated yesterday on March 14. Equal Pay Day is also celebrated on the same day — a day to examine the decades of advocacy to extinguish the pay gap between men and women.

Unfortunately, nationwide the gap is still large. 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 experts Chamber of Commerce. They investigated the earnings for full-time workers in 170 of the most populous cities in the United States.

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 gender pay 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. Just outside the top 10 is Plano at No. 12, with their gender pay gap adding up to $20,736.

How does Houston fair? Not too shabby, actually. The Bayou City landed at the No. 114 spot out of 170 of the most-populated cities in the U.S. Dallas actually 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. 13 – Austin
  • 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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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Four major metros in Texas have teamed up to advocate for the LGBT community. VlatkoRadovic/Getty Images

Texas LGBT chambers of commerce form coalition to advocate for the community

One for all

The LGBT chambers of commerce in the Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas areas have combined forces to create the Texas LGBT Chambers of Commerce with the mission of advancing and advocating for LGBT business leaders and allies within the state.

The four founding entities of the coalition represent over 1,000 LGBT-owned and LGBT-allied business interests, according to a release.

"The Greater Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce is proud to stand with our sister LGBT chambers across the state to bring the power of our collective voices to advocate on behalf of the LGBT business community," says Tammi Wallace, co-founder and chair of the Greater Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce, in the release. "Representing hundreds of LGBT-owned and LGBT-allied businesses — and growing — our work together is even more important as we unify to represent our members through advocacy and other collaborative opportunities."

The coalition will host an advocacy day at the Texas Capital on Feb. 20 with the goal being to introduce lawmakers to the coalition and address business issues regarding the LGBT community, according to the release

"There is power in numbers," says Clint Thomson, chair of the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce, in the release. "This new alliance will enable us to work collectively on behalf of all LGBT-owned and LGBT-allied businesses throughout the Lone Star State."

The group effort is a response to the anti-transgender "bathroom bill" that was introduced to lawmakers in the 2017 Texas Legislative Session. While the bill didn't pass, a study showed that it would have had a negative economic impact of $8.5 billion and a loss of 185,000 jobs.

"The Texas LGBT Chambers of Commerce intends to prevent any and all anti-LGBT, economy-damaging measures from becoming law in Texas at the state and local levels," says Chase Kincannon, chair of the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, in the release.

As of January 29, no legislation regarding the LGBT community was recognized as active within the 86th Texas Legislative Session.

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UH lands $3M grant to expand opioid overdose training

Overdose Response

The University of Houston has received a $3 million federal grant to expand its potentially life-saving overdose response training program.

The grant will support the Houston Health Department’s FRONTLINES program that trains first responders in Harris and Fort Bend counties to recognize opioid overdoses and administer the drug naloxone, which can counter the effects of an opioid overdose. The four-year grant comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services, and it builds on eight years of work at UH, according to a release from the university.

As part of the expansion, UH medical, social work and psychology students will now also be able to take part in FRONTLINES’ overdose-response training. Some of the students will also be selected to help train community members, ultimately passing along the life-saving skills throughout Houston.

FRONTLINES is a collaboration with the City of Houston, the Fertitta College of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston Recovery Center. It was co-founded by Dr. James Bray, chair of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Houston’s Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, in 2018.

“When someone experiencing an opioid overdose is reached in time, naloxone can save their life,” Bray said in a news release. “We’ve seen the impact this training can have in Houston, and now we have an opportunity to extend that reach across Harris and Fort Bend counties, putting lifesaving knowledge and tools into the hands of more first responders.”

In 2024, around 450 residents of Harris County died from opioid overdoses, according to a Texas Department of State Health Services report. The report found that fentanyl was involved in about three-quarters of the deaths.

In 2025, UH also received a $2.6 million gift from the estate of Dr. William A. Gibson to expand its opioid research and develop a vaccine to help block fentanyl's effectiveness in entering the brain. The vaccine research is part of the Michael C. Gibson Addiction Research Program led by UH professor of psychology Therese Kosten and founding member of the UH Drug Discovery Institute Colin Haile. Read more about the grant and the vaccine’s development here.

Texas public libraries drive billions in economic impact, report finds

Beyond the Stacks

A new statewide study examining the economic impacts of public libraries has revealed they have generated over $3.8 billion in value to local communities — a return of $4.74 for every $1 invested.

The report, "Beyond the Stacks: Measuring the Economic and Community Value of Texas Public Libraries" was conducted by third-party consultancy JBK Economics Group in partnership with the Texas Library Association. About 300 of the total 513 public libraries in Texas participated in a survey for the report.

A major finding from the survey revealed that public libraries create billions in economic value for the communities they serve at a fraction of what it costs to pay employee wages and benefits, operating expenditures, and capital expenditures. About 11,200 jobs were directly and indirectly supported by public libraries, the report found.

The report found its $4.74 to $1 ratio by adding up the total value of the services provided by these institutions (an estimated $2.48 billion), and comparing it to total expenditures ($808.6 million).

"Public libraries had about the same economic footprint as the Texas motion picture and sound recording industry ($2.9 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2024) or the Texas paper manufacturing industry ($4.0 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2024)," the report said.

Many Houstonians are already familiar with Houston Public Library's expansive catalog and programming, but there are many more services the library provides that might fly under the radar. A few examples include access to subscription-based research databases and news outlets, and the Library of Things, a collection of cookware and bake ware, musical instruments, craft kits, and other tools or activity materials that are available for cardholders to borrow. Individual branches also provide free Wi-Fi, computer access, and meeting spaces.

Houston-area residents also have access to services at several other local libraries depending on their address, such as the Harris County Public Library, Montgomery County Memorial Library System, or Fort Bend County Libraries, just to name a few.

These are additional services and partnerships that Texas public libraries commonly provide, per the survey results:

  • 93 percent provide voter registration and/or serve as voting locations
  • 84 percent provide partnerships with local social services agencies
  • 82 percent provide job application assistance
  • 68 percent facilitate applications for government benefits
  • 38 percent provide on-site social services
  • 30 percent provide telehealth rooms and/or resources
"Public libraries are practical, welcoming and rooted in the communities they serve — they are unmistakably Texan," said Texas Library Association executive director Shirley Robinson in a press release. "This study puts a dollar value on the opportunities libraries create every day. Whether someone visits a library to apply for a job, access the internet, learn a new skill or simply find a new favorite book, those services create real value for Texans and their communities."

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This article first appeared on CultureMap.com.

Rice University launches new venture fund for university-affiliated startups

startup support

Rice University has launched its new One Giant Leap Ventures Fund I, which will invest in the university’s spinouts and alumni-founded startups.

The early-stage institutional venture fund will function with a hybrid structure that allows for participation from traditional equity investors and philanthropic investors. According to the university, the fund will invest up to $500,000 per Rice-affiliated company.

To be considered eligible for funds, companies must use intellectual property licensed by the university or be led or founded by alumni.

One Giant Leap will draw on support and mentorship from Rice’s pool of 60,000 alumni and aims to create educational opportunities within the investment phases, work with graduate and undergraduate venture students, explore the scaling and commercialization of their ideas, and help investigate all the facets of venture capital.

“Rice alumni bring an extraordinary depth of experience as entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders, and One Giant Leap creates new ways to put that expertise to work for the next generation of Rice innovators,” Stephen Bayer, vice president for development and alumni relations, said in a news release. “It strengthens the connection between our alumni and the university while giving them meaningful opportunities to mentor, advise and support Rice-affiliated companies as they grow.”

The fund held its first close in August and made its first investment into Rice brain health spinout Motif Neurotech. Led by Rice faculty member Jacob Robinson, Motif is working to commercialize a minimally invasive neurostimulator that targets treatment-resistant depression. In May, the FDA approved the company to move forward with its first clinical trial.

“Research produces breakthrough technologies and our academic environment forms outstanding entrepreneurs,” said Adrian Trömel, the fund’s managing director, a Rice alumnus and a startup founder who also serves as Rice’s interim chief innovation officer.

One Giant Leap joins the already long list of Rice-led programs that foster innovation, including the Liu Idea Labs for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Innovation Fellows and Summer Venture Studio, the Rice Alliance’s Business Plan Competition, the Ion District, Woodside Rice Decarbonization Accelerator, Rice Nexus, the Biotech Launchpad and RBL Ventures and its upcoming 200,000 square-foot research lab the Arc.

“With One Giant Leap, I am excited that we are creating a unique structure that brings together traditional investment and philanthropic participation to invest in and help catalyze our startups, engage the deep expertise within the Rice ecosystem and transform those strengths into real-world impact,” Trömel added in the release.

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