In 2014, according to the financial research company NerdWallet, Laredo had the worst pay for women of any city in the United States, with a large gender gap: an average annual salary of $24,700 for women, compared to nearly $35,000 for men. The gender pay gap in Laredo increased 25 percent between 2007 and 2012. Only the wealthy city of Frisco in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, had a greater pay gap within Texas than did Laredo. According to census reports, Laredo has a 30 percent rate of poverty. Laredo households headed by women with children under the age of eighteen have a 51 percent poverty rate. By contrast, the San Jose, California, area, the heart of the tech industry, has an average pay of $56,000, ranking first nationally.