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In 2017, the 50 million women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median weekly earnings of $770, while their 63 million male counterparts had median weekly earnings of $941. Women working in management; life, physical, and social science; legal; computer and mathematical; and architecture and engineering occupations had the highest median weekly earnings, ranging from $1,173 in management to $1,307 in architecture and engineering occupations. Median weekly earnings for men working in these occupations ranged from $1,361 in life, physical, and social science occupations to $1,896 in legal occupations. Earnings comparisons are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be significant in explaining earnings differences, such as job skills and responsibilities, work experience, and specialization.
Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex, 2017 annual averages
Occupation
Number of workers, women
Median weekly earnings, women
Number of workers, men
Median weekly earnings, men
Number of workers, total
Median weekly earnings, total
Total, full-time wage and salary workers
50,291,000
$770
62,980,000
$941
113,272,000
$860
Management occupations
5,600,000
1173
7,568,000
1573
13,169,000
1392
Business and financial operations occupations
3,398,000
1055
2,847,000
1390
6,245,000
1174
Computer and mathematical occupations
1,110,000
1235
3,240,000
1552
4,350,000
1465
Architecture and engineering occupations
442,000
1307
2,494,000
1518
2,936,000
1478
Life, physical, and social science occupations
564,000
1183
674,000
1361
1,238,000
1286
Community and social service occupations
1,418,000
857
747,000
976
2,165,000
900
Legal occupations
811,000
1192
568,000
1896
1,379,000
1443
Education, training, and library occupations
5,039,000
935
1,939,000
1202
6,978,000
1002
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations
765,000
943
1,013,000
1161
1,778,000
1066
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations
5,246,000
1068
1,724,000
1341
6,970,000
1124
Healthcare support occupations
2,180,000
533
320,000
597
2,500,000
542
Protective service occupations
535,000
690
2,204,000
894
2,739,000
852
Food preparation and serving related occupations
2,106,000
459
2,359,000
502
4,465,000
484
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations
1,268,000
463
2,373,000
573
3,641,000
522
Personal care and service occupations
1,971,000
503
728,000
612
2,699,000
520
Sales and related occupations
4,355,000
609
5,598,000
934
9,953,000
763
Office and administrative support occupations
9,850,000
691
3,884,000
735
13,733,000
701
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations
206,000
471
756,000
585
962,000
539
Construction and extraction occupations
160,000
802
5,987,000
796
6,147,000
796
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations
149,000
736
4,251,000
883
4,400,000
878
Production occupations
2,044,000
564
5,545,000
769
7,589,000
701
Transportation and material moving occupations
1,075,000
514
6,160,000
710
7,236,000
681
Median weekly earnings of women were lowest in food preparation and serving related ($459); building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($463); and farming, fishing, and forestry occupations ($471). Men's weekly earnings in these occupations were $502, $573, and $585, respectively.
Women and men had median weekly earnings that were most similar in food preparation and serving related occupations, office and administrative support, and construction and extraction occupations.
The greatest differences in median weekly earnings of women and men were in legal occupations ($1,192 for women and $1,896 men) and sales and related occupations ($609 and $934).
Over 2 million women worked in healthcare support occupations, with median weekly earnings of $533, compared with about half a million men, who had median weekly earnings of $597. About 150,000 women worked in installation, maintenance, with median weekly earnings of $736. In contrast, over 4 million men worked in these occupations, with weekly earnings of $883.
Half of all female full-time wage and salary workers were in education, training, and library; healthcare practitioners and technical; management, and office and administrative support occupations. The occupations employing the most men were production; sales and related; construction and extraction; transportation and material moving; and management occupations.
These data are from the Current Population Survey. More statistics of women's employment and earnings can be accessed from CPS: Demographics. Median earnings are the middle value when earnings are arranged from lowest to highest. Half of workers earn more, and half earn less, than the median earnings estimate.
United States Department of Labor
