While STEM fields have historically been male-dominated, women are steadily increasing their presence across science, engineering and technology roles. Today, women hold over a quarter of all STEM jobs in the UK yet pay parity and access to opportunity still vary widely by location.
To uncover where women in STEM have the strongest career prospects, CoworkingCafe analysed 95 of the UK’s largest cities and towns. We evaluated 10 key metrics across three categories: workforce strength, earnings and affordability, to identify the UK’s STEM hotspots for women.
Here are the key findings:
- Cambridge ranks first overall, with the highest concentration of STEM jobs (19.4%) and the strongest STEM labour demand nationwide (74 new monthly STEM job adverts per 10,000 working-age residents). Women hold 34.4% of local STEM roles, although housing affordability remains among the most constrained in the UK.
- Edinburgh (2nd) and Stevenage (3rd) follow closely. Edinburgh combines strong female representation in STEM roles (31.7%) with a low unemployment rate (2.5%), while Stevenage stands out for offering some of the highest median earnings for women across STEM roles.
- Oxford (4th) records the highest female STEM representation in the UK (35.5%) though affordability challenges impact its overall score.
- Scotland performs particularly well, with Edinburgh (2nd), Glasgow (6th) and Aberdeen (7th) all ranking in the top ten. Notably, the region achieves near pay parity, with women earning 99.2% of men’s salaries in professional STEM roles.
- The North West also shines, with three cities in the top ten: Manchester (8th), Warrington (9th) and Liverpool (10th) combine solid female representation and strong hiring demand with comparatively more accessible housing costs than southern innovation hubs.
- Greater London (assessed separately as a benchmark market) leads the UK in absolute STEM hiring demand and offers some of the highest salaries for women in professional STEM roles (£52,877), with female representation at 30.7%. However, it also has the highest housing cost burden in the study, with rent consuming 58.2% of median personal earnings and 12.1 times the median annual wage.
- National benchmark: STEM occupations make up 6.9% of total UK employment, with women accounting for 25.3% of all STEM employment. Women earn £46,168 annually in STEM professional positions and £32,304 in associate roles, with female-to-male pay ratios of 88.9% and 89.5% respectively — while rent consumes 41.3% of monthly median earnings.
You can explore the full study, data tables and methodology here: https://www.coworkingcafe.com/blog/best-uk-cities-for-women-in-stem/.