Some cities just make it harder on women who are trying to getby.

The handicaps that women face in trying to make enough money tolast a lifetime are bigger than those faced by men.

Despite the fact that women have nearly achieved educationalparity with men — in fact, 24/7 Wall Street said that women aremore likely to have graduated from both high school and college —they're less well represented in industries that look for collegedegrees and generally pay more as a result.

Running far behind

In addition, with women making less than men, saving less forretirement than men and spending more time out of the workplaceacting as caregivers — either for kids or parents or some otherrelative — they're running so far behind that they're a whopping 80percent more likely to end up in poverty during retirement thantheir male counterparts.

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It gets worse. Depending on where a woman lives, she might facean even bigger obstacle to earning and saving — even to surviving.Some parts of the country are more women-friendly than others, incategories that go far beyond mere money.

But, money playing the vital role it does, women need to knowwhere they might be able to do better, rather than worse,financially — so that they can get through their working years withenough money to pay their way, while still saving enough to covertheir expenses in retirement.

Cities where women struggle the most

24/7 Wall Street sought to cut through the noise andfigure out which U.S. cities do best by women, and which do worst.Calculations based on salary differences between the sexes, as wellas how highly paid (or the reverse) certain professions are fromcity to city, and even whether some professions are male- orfemale-dominated gave it the results: the 10 best-paying, and the10 worst-paying, cities for women.

Here are the 10 cities women would be well advised to avoid, ifthey care about their financial well-being, both now and in thefuture:

The annual income deficit between men and women is more than$13,000 in the Birmingham area. (Photo: Getty)

10. Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama

• Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 73.1 percent

• Median earnings for men: $49,030

• Median earnings for women: $35,818

Women don't make out at all well here, with a hefty annualincome deficit of more than $13,000 compared to men.

Lower-paid management positions for women, when they'reavailable — which isn't all that often — are a couple of thereasons women lag so far behind men when it comes to salary. Womenonly make up 37.7 percent of management roles in Birmingham, with amedian income of only $56,650 a year for the privilege. Malemanagers, on the other hand, rake in a median of $75,251 ayear.

Women in the legal field in the Youngstown area make amedian of just $31,700 a year. (Photo: Getty)

9. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio/Pennsylvania

• Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 72.9 percent

• Median earnings for men: $44,757

• Median earnings for women: $32,612

If you want to get closer to parity in the Youngstown area, stayaway from the law. Women in the legal field here make a median ofjust $31,700 a year, compared with men's median income of $105,714.Now that's just not right.

In addition, women are pretty well shut out of other high-payingfields in this metropolitan area, managing to get just 20.8 percentof all computer and mathematical positions and a pitiful 9.3percent of all architecture and engineering positions, some of thesmallest shares in the country.

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Women in Witchita are at a distinct disadvantage when itcomes to pay. (Photo: Getty)

8. Wichita, Kansas

• Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 72.9percent

• Median earnings for men: $49,179

• Median earnings for women: $35,831

Well, they did say, “Go west, young man,” not “youngwoman.” And women in Wichita are operating at a distinctdisadvantage when it comes to pay. Although women are more highlyeducated than their male counterparts in this city, they're “muchless likely to have the higher-paying jobs a college educationtypically affords.”

They only hold 8.2 percent of architecture and engineering jobsin Wichita, 19.2 percent of computer and mathematical occupationsand 34.1 percent of management roles, they're paid less than themen — in each field.

The wages for women in this region are as antique as thismap of Georgia and South Carolina. (Photo: Getty)

7. Augusta-Richmond County, Georgia/South Carolina

• Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 72.6 percent

• Median earnings for men: $46,410

• Median earnings for women: $33,713

Despite the fact that mathematical and computer science jobs areamong the highest-paid in the country, that's not the case forwomen here — who earn a whopping $25,000 less than the men in thesefields. To add insult to injury, they make $20,000 less than womenin those jobs elsewhere in the country — a good motivation torelocate.

If that's not enough of a reason, consider this: women workingin business and finance in Augusta earn just 58 percent of what menin the field earn, one of the largest pay gaps for the industry ofany metro area. The median earnings for women across alloccupations in Augusta-Richmond County is just $33,713 a year, lessthan the $39,054 median annual earnings for women nationwide.

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Only 10.7 percent of architecture and engineering positionsin the Akron area are held by women. (Photo: Getty)

6. Akron, Ohio

• Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 71.3 percent

• Median earnings for men: $50,424

• Median earnings for women: $35,956

Another Ohio city that's just not woman-friendly, Akron has alow number of women in some of its highest-paying industries.

Only 37.3 percent of management positions, 10.7 percent ofarchitecture and engineering positions and 28.7 percent of alllife, physical, and social science positions in the metro area areheld by women. And each of those are among the smallest shares inthe country.

Only 28.7 percent of women in Salt Lake City have abachelor's degree, while 34.0 percent of men do. (Photo:Getty)

5. Salt Lake City, Utah

• Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 70.5 percent

• Median earnings for men: $50,217

• Median earnings for women: $35,414

If Ohio isn't particularly woman-friendly, Utah is even less so,with three of its metropolitan areas making the 10-worst-for-womenlist. And that's not good news. 24/7 Wall Street cited a Voices for Utah Children study from 2015 thatfound the state's pay gap to be due to a mix of discrimination anddifferences in qualification between the two sexes.

Only 28.7 percent of women have at least a bachelor's degree inSalt Lake City, while 34.0 percent of adult men do. The only majormetro areas with larger gaps in educational achievement are theUtah areas of Ogden-Clearfield and Provo-Orem. Women in SLCtypically earn just $35,414 annually, while men cash in on medianearnings of $50,217 — one of the largest pay gaps in thecountry.

Women are paid 69.7 percent of what men are paid, in Boise.(Photo: Getty)

4. Boise, Idaho

• Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 69.7 percent

• Median earnings for men: $46,046

• Median earnings for women: $32,110

Women aren't only shut out of high-paying fields, but make upthe largest percentage of workers in fields for which wages aredepressed — a nasty little Catch-22.

In Boise, for instance, with its 69.7 percent pay gap, womenaccount for at least 65 percent of education and health diagnosingand practitioner roles, but remember that number — because they'repaid just 65 percent of what their male counterparts make. Themedian earnings for female technologists is just $35,933 a year,compared with $61,083 for males.

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In the Ogden-Clearfield area, women make 67.5 percent ofwhat men make. (Photo: Getty)

3. Ogden-Clearfield, Utah

• Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 67.5 percent

• Median earnings for men: $53,158

• Median earnings for women: $35,879

Talk about inequality — this is one of the worst examples in thecountry. Despite the fact that their median earnings are $46,940annually — more than the national median — residents ofOgden-Clearfield don't have an equal playing field. And by that wemean women.

Construction and extraction jobs employ just 2.8 percent ofwomen nationally, but in Ogden women hold 4.6 percent of that work.But that doesn't mean they make anywhere near what the men in thosefields do. Women only earn $18,649 annually, considerably lowerthan the median earnings for women working in these jobs nationwideand less than 40 percent of what men in similar jobs earn in thearea. Nationally, that pay gap is more than 80 percent — quite adifference, and not in a good way.

Women are paid less than 2 dollars for every 3 dollars a manis paid, in Baton Rouge. (Photo: Getty)

2. Baton Rouge, Louisiana

• Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 64.9 percent

• Median earnings for men: $53,155

• Median earnings for women: $34,522

This is the second-worst city for women in the country, when itcomes to the pay gap. It and Provo-Orem, Utah are the only twoplaces in the nation where women are paid less than two dollars forevery three dollars a man is paid. And the legal field is theworst.

Women account for 43.5 percent of jobs in the legal industry,and earn only $52,459 annually, which is way lower than the medianfor men in the legal field. In fact, women's wages are lower thanmen's almost every area industry, in spite of the fact that areaadult women tend to be better educated than the men.

In the Provo area, 33.2 percent of women have at least abachelor's degree, while 41.0 percent of men do. (Photo:Getty)

1. Provo-Orem, Utah

• Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 64.3 percent

• Median earnings for men: $52,068

• Median earnings for women: $33,504

It's bad here for women, but it's the worst in the health carefield, where women in support occupations make less than half asmuch as the men. And that's despite adjusting for education.

But women in the Provo-Orem area are less likely to have as muchhigher education as men, with 41.0 percent of men having at least abachelor's degree, compared with just 33.2 percent of women.

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