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Highlights of women’s earnings in 2023

In 2023, women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median usual weekly earnings that were 84 percent of those of male full-time wage and salary workers. In 1979, the first year for which comparable earnings data are available, women’s earnings were 62 percent of men’s earnings. Most of the growth in women’s earnings relative to men’s occurred in the 1980s (when the women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio went from 64 percent to 70 percent) and from 1990 to 2003 (when the ratio went from 72 percent to 79 percent). From 2004 to 2023, the women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio remained in the 80 to 84 percent range. (See chart 1 and tables 1 and 12.)

This report presents earnings data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a national monthly sample survey of about 60,000 eligible households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The weekly and hourly earnings estimates in this report reflect information collected from one-fourth of the households in the monthly survey and averaged for the calendar year. The data in this report are distinct from the annual earnings estimates for full-time, year-round workers collected separately in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the CPS and published by the U.S. Census Bureau. (See the Current Population Survey’s frequently asked questions page for an explanation of the differences in these datasets.)

The earnings comparisons in this report are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be important in explaining earnings differences, such as job skills and responsibilities, work experience, and specialization. The earnings estimates referenced throughout this report are medians. The median is the midpoint in the earnings distribution, with half of workers having earnings above the median level and half having earnings below.

For more information, see the accompanying technical notes section, including a description of the source of the data and an explanation of the concepts and definitions used in this report.

Earnings of full-time workers

This report highlights data for women and men who usually work full time (35 hours or more per week) in wage and salary jobs, with sections focusing on characteristics such as age, race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, education, occupation, and more. In 2023, median weekly earnings for women age 16 and older who usually work full time were $1,005, compared with $1,202 for men. (See table 1.)

Earnings by age group

In 2023, women’s median weekly earnings were highest for those ages 35 to 44 and 45 to 54, with earnings of $1,136 and $1,115, respectively. Women ages 55 to 64 had earnings that were slightly lower, at $1,065. For men, median weekly earnings were highest for those ages 35 to 64: median weekly earnings were $1,364 for men ages 35 to 44; $1,396 for men ages 45 to 54; and $1,380 for men ages 55 to 64. Young women and men ages 16 to 24 had the lowest earnings ($691 and $736, respectively). (See chart 2 and table 1.)   

The earnings difference between men and women has historically been smaller for those under age 35 than for those in older age groups. Women ages 25 to 34 earned 89 percent of what men earned, while women ages 16 to 24 earned 94 percent of what men earned. Among workers age 35 and older, women earned between 77 percent and 83 percent of what their male counterparts earned in 2023. (See tables 1 and 12.)

Women’s-to-men’s earnings ratios have increased substantially for most age groups since 1979. For younger workers ages 16 to 24, the gains primarily occurred in the 1980s, but the ratio has changed little, on net, since then. For workers age 25 and over, the upward trend in the 1980s flattened out in the early 1990s, and then the upward trend resumed in the late 1990s. In recent years, the women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio for workers age 25 and over has risen, from 75 percent in 2000 to 83 percent in 2023. (See table 12.)

Earnings by race and ethnicity

Asian women and men earned more than their White, Black, and Hispanic counterparts in 2023. Among women, Whites ($1,021) earned 79 percent as much as Asians ($1,299), Blacks ($889) earned 68 percent, and Hispanics ($800) earned 62 percent as much. Among men, these earnings differences were even larger: White men ($1,225) earned 75 percent as much as Asian men ($1,635), Black men ($970) earned 59 percent, and Hispanic men ($915) earned 56 percent as much. (See chart 3 and table 1.)

In 2023, earnings differences between women and men were largest among Asians and Whites. Asian women earned 79 percent as much as Asian men, and White women earned 83 percent as much as White men. In comparison, Black women had median earnings that were 92 percent of Black men’s, and Hispanic women’s earnings were 87 percent of Hispanic men’s. (See table 1.)

Women’s earnings have increased considerably since 1979 (the first year for which comparable data for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics are available), with White women experiencing the greatest earnings growth. From 1979 to 2023, inflation-adjusted median weekly earnings (also called constant-dollar earnings) increased by 41 percent for White women and by 34 percent and 29 percent for Black and Hispanic women, respectively. Although data for Asians are not available before 2000, it is worth noting that inflation-adjusted earnings for Asian women increased by 34 percent between 2000 and 2023. (See table 18.)

In 2023, constant-dollar earnings for White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic women showed some improvement. Constant-dollar earnings for Black women had an increase of 2.2 percentage points over the year, and Asian women’s earnings had an increase of 1.1 percentage points. Hispanic and White women’s earnings had a more modest increase of less than one percentage point each. Constant-dollar earnings for White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic women had sharp increases from 2019 to 2020, mainly due to steep job losses among lower-paid workers with the onset of the pandemic, which put upward pressure on (nominal) median weekly earnings. From 2020 to 2022, women’s earnings for all race and ethnicity groups declined slightly. This decline in earnings emerged as the economy experienced major changes tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery, including the impacts of high inflation. Taking both rapidly evolving labor market conditions and inflation into account, constant-dollar earnings for White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic women were higher in 2023 than their prepandemic (2019) levels. (See table 18.)

The long-term trend in men’s earnings has been quite different than that for women. Inflation-adjusted earnings for White and Black men trended down from 1979 through the early 1990s, followed by a period of growth that stalled in the early 2000s. For Hispanic men, earnings also declined from 1979 through the mid-1990s, then began to trend upwards. Over the full period from 1979 through 2023, inflation-adjusted earnings among men have seen a net increase for Whites (4 percent), Blacks (9 percent), and Hispanics (6 percent). Over the 2000–23 period, for which earnings data for Asians are available, inflation-adjusted earnings for Asian men grew by 34 percent. In general, women and men’s weekly earnings were similarly impacted by inflation and the pandemic. Women’s earnings, however, have increased since 2019, while men’s earnings have changed little. (See table 18.)

Earnings by educational attainment

Median weekly earnings vary significantly by educational attainment. Among all workers age 25 and older, the weekly earnings of those without a high school diploma ($708) were 44 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree and higher ($1,609) in 2023. For workers with a high school diploma who had not attended college, median earnings ($899) were 56 percent of the median earnings of workers with a bachelor’s degree and higher. Those with some college or an associate’s degree ($1,016) made 63 percent of what workers with a bachelor’s degree and higher made. (See table 1.)

In each educational attainment category, inflation-adjusted earnings have increased more for women than for men between 1979 and 2023. The inflation-adjusted earnings of women without a high school diploma increased by 4 percent. By contrast, inflation-adjusted earnings for men without a high school diploma declined by 23 percent over the same period. For those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, since 1979, inflation-adjusted earnings for women have increased by 38 percent, while earnings for men have risen by 20 percent. (See chart 4 and table 19.)

Earnings by occupation

Women and men working in full-time management, business, and financial operations occupations had higher median weekly earnings than workers in any other major occupational category in 2023 ($1,449 for women and $1,868 for men). Within this category, women who were chief executives ($2,520) and computer and information systems managers ($2,192) had the highest median weekly earnings. Among men, those who were chief executives ($2,983) and architectural and engineering managers ($2,887) earned the most. (See table 2.)

The second-highest paying intermediate occupational category for women and men was professional and related occupations ($1,278 for women and $1,736 for men). This is a broad occupational category, made up of several distinct job groupings for specialized fields, such as computer science and math, architecture and engineering, law, education, and healthcare. Within this diverse category, women who were other physicians ($2,907) (such as gastroenterologists, oncologists, and pulmonologists), lawyers ($2,330), pharmacists ($2,180), nurse practitioners ($2,031), and software developers ($2,020) had the highest median weekly earnings in 2023. For men, those who were other physicians ($2,920), lawyers ($2,505), information security analysts ($2,306), and chemical engineers ($2,300) had the highest weekly earnings. (See table 2.)

Women and men employed in service occupations earned the least in 2023 ($676 for women and $801 for men). Within this category, women and men who were in the food preparation and serving related occupations, including fast food and counter workers earned the least, $618 and $700, respectively. Within service occupations, women and men who were police officers earned the most at, $1,034 and $1,363, respectively.

Occupational distributions of women and men

The occupational distributions of female and male full-time workers differ considerably. Relatively few women work in natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations compared with men (575,000 or 1 percent versus 10.8 million or 16 percent, respectively). In addition, compared with men, women are far more concentrated in office and administrative support occupations (16 percent and 6 percent, respectively). Women are equally as likely as men to work in management occupations (13 percent each). (See chart 5 and table 2.)

In 2023, 32 percent of women worked in professional and related occupations, compared with 22 percent of men. Within this category, though, the proportion of women employed in the higher paying jobs is much smaller than the proportion of men employed in these types of jobs. In 2023, 12 percent of women in professional and related occupations were employed in the relatively high-paying computer and mathematical (median weekly earnings of $1,628 for women and $1,976 for men) and architecture and engineering ($1,635 for women and $1,864 for men) occupations, compared with 50 percent of men.

Sixty-five percent of women in professional occupations worked in education and healthcare jobs in 2023, compared with 28 percent of men. Women earned less than men in education ($1,134 for women and $1,376 for men) and healthcare ($1,341 for women and $1,682 for men) occupations. (See table 2.)

Across all occupational categories, the three most common jobs for women were elementary and middle school teacher ($1,220), registered nurse ($1,409), and customer service representative ($799). Collectively, these occupations employed 6.3 million women in 2023, representing 12 percent of women in full-time wage and salary jobs.

Among men, the most common job by far was truck driver (driver/sales workers and truck drivers, $1,016). In 2023, 2.6 million, or 4 percent, of all male full-time wage and salary workers were truck drivers. Although engineering jobs are shown separately by specialty (civil, mechanical, etc.) in this report, if combined, engineer would be the second most common job for men. In 2023, a total of 2.1 million men were employed full time in the 16 designated engineering specialties (median weekly earnings ranging from $1,766 to $2,300). (See table 2.)

Earnings for those with and without children under 18

In 2023, one-third of full-time wage and salary workers were parents of children under age 18. (As defined here, “children” include sons, daughters, stepchildren, and adopted children under age 18 who live in the household.) Median weekly earnings for mothers of children under age 18 ($1,063) were higher than the earnings for women without children under 18 ($982). Earnings for fathers of children under age 18 ($1,390) were higher than the earnings for men without children under 18 ($1,132). (See table 7.)

Earnings by state of residence

Median weekly earnings and women’s-to-men’s earnings ratios vary by state of residence. (In this report, “state” refers to the 50 states and the District of Columbia.) The differences among the states reflect, in part, variation in the occupations and industries found in each state and differences in the demographic composition of each state’s labor force. Readers should note that sampling error for the state estimates is considerably larger than it is for the national estimates. (See the technical notes section for an explanation of sampling error.) Consequently, earnings comparisons between states should be made with caution. Readers should also note that the state estimates are based on workers’ states of residence: a worker’s reported earnings are not necessarily from a job located in the same state. (See table 3.)

Weekly work hours of full-time workers

Among full-time workers (those usually working at a job 35 hours or more per week), men continued to be more likely than women to work more than 40 hours per week. In 2023, the proportion of men (21 percent) who usually worked 41 or more hours per week was almost double that of women (12 percent). Full-time women workers were more likely than men to work 35 to 39 hours per week: 10 percent of women and 4 percent of men worked such hours in 2023. A majority of both female (78 percent) and male (74 percent) full-time workers had a 40-hour workweek. Among these workers, women earned 87 percent as much as men. (This analysis excludes people who usually work 35 or more hours per week but whose hours vary.) (See table 5.)

Earnings of part-time workers

Women were more likely than men to work part time—that is, less than 35 hours per week on a sole or main job. In 2023, women were twice as likely to work 0 to 34 hours per week than their male counterparts (20 percent versus 10 percent). Median weekly earnings for female part-time workers were $369 in 2023, higher than the $358 median for men. (See table 5.)

Part-time workers are much more likely to be under age 25 than full-time workers. Among part-time workers, 32 percent of women and 42 percent of men were under age 25 in 2023. By comparison, among full-time workers, 9 percent of women and 10 percent of men were under age 25. (See tables 1 and 4.)

Earnings of workers paid by the hour

In 2023, 58 percent of women and 54 percent of men in wage and salary jobs were paid by the hour. Women who were paid hourly rates had median hourly earnings of $18.11, which were 90 percent of the $20.16 median hourly earnings for men. (See tables 8 and 11.)

Among workers who were paid hourly rates in 2023, 2 percent of women and 1 percent of men had hourly earnings at or below the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25. The proportion of women who had hourly earnings at or below the prevailing federal minimum wage has declined from 20 percent in 1979, while the rate for men has declined from 8 percent over the same period. (See tables 10 and 11.) (See the technical notes section for information about BLS estimates of the number of minimum wage workers.)