As much as we Americans might wish otherwise, the goal of a society with a level playing field still eludes us in 2022. Life here can be significantly more challenging for some, and this can be especially true in those communities repeatedly targeted for denial of economic opportunities over the years and generations.

While longstanding disparities in economic opportunity and success mean minorities and especially woman face extra difficulties when striving for the American dream, some communities are able to provide better opportunities than others.

The people at personal finance site MoneyGeek wanted to know which cities were the best for minority women seeking success, so used their own research as well as data from the American Community Survey and from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, to compare 143 cities, judging their suitability for financial success for Latinas using eight factors: safety, Hispanic population, educational attainment, poverty rates, income, employment, health insurance and home ownership.

According to MoneyGeek, Virginia Beach is the 14th best US city for Latinas to find success. In their write-up they point out that where residents enjoy gainful employment and more college degrees, Latinas find a significantly higher level of success than in other areas. In November the city had an unemployment rate of just 2.6%, compared to 4.2% for the nation. As for educational attainment, 38% of residents have an undergraduate degree or higher, compared to 35% of the nation overall.

Virginia Beach does well in most financial metrics, in fact, with a high median annual income at over $76,000 and low median home value of just $280,000. Only 6.8% of the population is below the poverty line (compared to over 12% for the US), and 94% of the population has a high school diploma, compared to 88% of the country overall.

Gilbert, AZ is the city were Latinas are doing the best, followed by Washington, DC and Torrance, CA. The best Virginia location for Latina success was Arlington, which was in the tenth position in the report.