Women earned 84 cents for every dollar men made in 2025, Census says
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Women who worked full time, year-round earned 83.9 cents for every dollar men earned in 2025, up from 80.6 cents in 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau reported September 15. The bureau said it was the first significant one-year increase in the ratio since 2016, following two years of significant declines.
The median woman working full time all year earned $60,760, up 3.2 percent after inflation. The median man earned $72,380, which the bureau said was not a significant change. The difference, $11,620, is the second-smallest in the bureau's records, which start in 1960. The smallest was $10,910 in 2022, when the ratio hit its high of 84.0 percent.
These are medians for people who worked at least 35 hours a week for at least 50 weeks of the year, converted to 2025 dollars. Counting part-time and part-year workers too, women's median earnings were $47,410 and men's $61,170, a ratio of 77.5 percent.
| Year | Men | Women | Gap | Women's earnings per man's dollar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | $47,720 | $28,960 | $18,760 | 60.7% |
| 1965 | $53,340 | $31,970 | $21,370 | 59.9% |
| 1970 | $62,100 | $36,870 | $25,230 | 59.4% |
| 1973 | $67,760 | $38,380 | $29,380 | 56.6% |
| 1975 | $64,950 | $38,200 | $26,750 | 58.8% |
| 1980 | $64,830 | $39,000 | $25,830 | 60.2% |
| 1985 | $64,630 | $41,730 | $22,900 | 64.6% |
| 1990 | $61,980 | $44,390 | $17,590 | 71.6% |
| 1995 | $61,920 | $44,230 | $17,690 | 71.4% |
| 2000 | $65,260 | $48,110 | $17,150 | 73.7% |
| 2005 | $65,050 | $50,070 | $14,980 | 77.0% |
| 2010 | $68,220 | $52,480 | $15,740 | 76.9% |
| 2015 | $67,590 | $53,770 | $13,820 | 79.6% |
| 2016 | $67,560 | $54,360 | $13,200 | 80.5% |
| 2019 | $71,350 | $58,740 | $12,610 | 82.3% |
| 2020 | $75,400 | $62,690 | $12,710 | 83.1% |
| 2021 | $71,970 | $60,260 | $11,710 | 83.7% |
| 2022 | $68,100 | $57,190 | $10,910 | 84.0% |
| 2023 | $70,210 | $58,070 | $12,140 | 82.7% |
| 2024 | $73,070 | $58,860 | $14,210 | 80.6% |
| 2025 | $72,380 | $60,760 | $11,620 | 83.9% |
Women's full-time earnings have more than doubled since 1960, up 109.8 percent after inflation. Men's rose 51.7 percent. Women's median first reached twice its 1960 level in 2019, at $58,740.
The low point was 1973, when women earned 56.6 cents per man's dollar and the gap was $29,380, the widest in the series. Men's median that year, $67,760, was a level they did not reach again until 2009.
From 1973 to 2025, men's full-time median rose 6.8 percent. Women's rose 58.3 percent. The ratio first passed 70 percent in 1990 and 80 percent in 2016.
Both medians peaked in 2020, at $75,400 for men and $62,690 for women. Neither has returned to that level. Women's $60,760 in 2025 is their second-highest, and men's $72,380 is their third-highest, after 2020 and 2024.
More people worked full time all year in 2025. The share of male workers on a full-time, year-round schedule rose to 75.6 percent from 74.3 percent, and the share of female workers rose to 65.4 percent from 64.6 percent. About 54.8 million women and 69.2 million men worked full time all year.
County-level labor force rates for women are in the counties where women work the most.
Sources
Figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau's Table 12, Number and Real Median Earnings of Total Workers and Full-Time, Year-Round Workers With Earnings by Sex and Female-to-Male Earnings Ratio: 1960 to 2025, and Table 11, published with Income in the United States: 2025 (P60-289) on September 15, 2026. Earnings are in 2025 dollars. Before 1989 they cover civilian workers only, and before 1980 they cover people 14 and older rather than 15 and older. The ratio column is the bureau's; the gap column is the difference between the two medians. Where the bureau lists two estimates for a year because of a survey change, the first-listed estimate is used. Statements about statistical significance are the bureau's.
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How much do women earn compared with men in 2025?
Among people who worked full time all year in 2025, the median woman earned $60,760 and the median man $72,380, according to the Census Bureau. That is 83.9 cents per man's dollar, a gap of $11,620.
When was the gender pay gap the largest?
In 1973, when women working full time all year earned 56.6 cents per man's dollar. Adjusted to 2025 dollars, the gap was $29,380, the widest in Census Bureau data going back to 1960.
Is the gender earnings ratio at a record high?
Not quite. The ratio was 83.9 percent in 2025, just under the 84.0 percent recorded in 2022. It fell to 82.7 percent in 2023 and 80.6 percent in 2024 before rising again in 2025.
