Women are a cornerstone of the U.S. labor force and a lifeline for the economy. This year, for the third time in measured history, they accounted for the majority of nonfarm payroll employment. Even so, gaps between men’s and women’s wages persist—a consequential disparity given that women have less income to absorb rising costs at when a time families are struggling to afford basic household expenses.
For all women—regardless of hours or weeks worked—the gender wage gap has closed by 2 cents between 2024 and 2025 to an average of 78 cents for every dollar men made. Most women of color continue to experience wider wage gaps than white women. This piece provides an updated analysis of the latest annual income data published in September 2026 by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The gender wage gap narrowed after a two-year setback, but Black and Hispanic women continue to face the largest gaps
For women working full time, year-round, between 2024 and 2025, the wage gap narrowed by 3 cents for every dollar men earned. Women working full time, year-round earned a median annual income of $60,760, which was $11,620 below that earned by men. Among all women workers, the annual gap was $13,760 compared to what their male counterparts made in 2025. In fact, the rate of progress on narrowing the gender wage gap has been minimal since 2000. On the current trajectory for full-time, year-round workers, it would take women another 45 years to close the wage gap: If the gender wage gap continues on the same path it took from 2000 to 2025, it would take until 2071 for it to close for women working full time, year-round.*
A look at the 2025 gender wage gap
78 cents
Amount earned by all women for every $1 made by their male counterparts
Authors' analysis of U.S. Census Bureau, "Income in the United States: 2025" (2026).
84 cents
Amount earned by women working full time, year-round for every $1 made by their male counterparts
Authors' analysis of U.S. Census Bureau, "Income in the United States: 2025" (2026).
Black and Hispanic women continue to face the largest wage gaps among the published racial groups when compared with white, non-Hispanic men, which reflect the intersecting inequities across race, ethnicity, gender, motherhood status, and immigration status that they experience.
Disaggregated data at risk
- American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women have historically faced large gender wage gaps. However, data for those races cannot be broken out at this time due to release delays in publication of public data collected by the Census Bureau. Wage gaps for these groups have typically been calculated from census tables using the American Community Survey data, but, in June, the Trump administration’s Commerce Department proposed changes to safe, methodologically sound, and long utilized statistical procedures that risk blocking researchers’ ability to produce certain types of detailed data analysis by certain races, ethnicities, disability status, geography, and other demographic cross sections.
In 2025, for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men working full time, year-round, Black women were paid just 64 cents, Hispanic women 60 cents, white women 81 cents, and Asian women 99 cents. Notably, while the wage gap for everyone else shrunk, Black women working full time, year-round saw their wage gaps widen by 1 cent between 2024 and 2025. Among all workers, Hispanic women’s wages also widened by 1 cent between 2024 and 2025, while all other wage gaps narrowed or remained unchanged. Although the wage gap for Asian women is smaller than that of other racial groups, many racial and ethnic subgroups of Asian women experience larger wage gaps than Asian women as an aggregate population, making the availability of American Community Survey microdata all the more important for understanding the unique inequities faced by certain demographic groups of Asian women.
It’s more than just a paycheck: The gender wage gap costs women and families months of household expenses
In 2025, women working full time, year-round typically made $11,620 less in annual earnings compared to white, non-Hispanic men because of the gender wage gap. That difference doesn’t just appear in a single paycheck but puts an additional strain on household resources and budgets. Research shows that, compared to men, women play a disproportionate role in managing day-to-day household finances—including tasks such as paying bills and household shopping—while also carrying significant caregiving responsibilities. Women are also more likely than men to report that family-related expenses and monthly bills stand in the way of their financial progress. (Figure 2)
Read more about the factors driving the gender wage gap and how to address them: Explore the series
Conclusion
To help build a more equitable economy and ease affordability pressures, policymakers should narrow the gender wage gap by advancing legislation that strengthens pay equity and improves women’s economic security. This includes passing legislation such as the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen equal pay protections and provide stronger enforcement against gender-based pay discrimination. Policymakers should also raise the minimum wage, establish federal paid family and medical leave, and pass paid sick and safe time through the Healthy Families Act. Together, these policies would help make meaningful progress toward pay equity and economic security for all women.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Mimla Wardak for her fact check; Hailey Gibbs, Natasha Murphy, and Cristina Tello-Trillo for their feedback on this article and its visualizations; and Bill Rapp and Will Beaudouin for their superb editorial and graphic design support in the production of this piece.
Methodological note
In this analysis, the gender wage gap is defined as the ratio of median annual earnings between men and women employed across all industries. Wage gap calculations include median annual earnings for workers ages 15 and older. A full-time, year-round worker is a person who worked a minimum of 35 hours per week for at least 50 weeks during the previous calendar year. “All workers” are defined as those who work full time, part time, and part year. Race categories include only the listed race and do not include people of Hispanic ethnicity or multiple races. Income data for American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women from the American Community Survey were unavailable at the time of publication and are therefore not included in this analysis.
* Authors’ calculations using Table 12 from U.S. Census Bureau, “Income in the United States: 2025,” September 2026, available at https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2026/demo/income-poverty/p60-289.html. Note: The authors’ estimates include the previous sample, not the redesigned sample, for the 2013 wage gap ratio.