Why Efforts to Close It Are Falling Short

Women still make less than men, and the pay gap between those two genders widened again last year, according to data released last week by the Census Bureau.

The median salary for women as a percentage of the median salary earned by men in the U.S. has fallen for the second year in a row, to about 80.9% in 2024 from 82.7% in 2023, the Census Bureau found. That means for every $1 the median man in the U.S. made last year, the median woman made about 81 cents.

What Happened to The Wage Gap in The Last Year, and So Far This Year?

From 2023 to 2024, the Census Bureau found that the gap widened because the median earnings among full-time employed men rose by 3.7% year-over-year, while the median pay for women increased at a slower pace at 1.5%. The median for men was $71,090, above the national median of $63,360, while the median woman earned $57,520 in 2024.

Also in the Census data, the only groups to see their median earnings decline in 2024 were Black Americans, and those with a Bachelor’s degree or higher, with drops of 1.8% and 0.5%, respectively, to $52,370 and $91,250. The biggest gain came for Americans with no high school diploma, whose median earnings rose 6.6% to $40,450 last year.

This year, that trend has reversed, according to Federal Reserve data. Through the second quarter of this year, the median weekly earnings for men has risen to $1,333 from $1,257 at the same time last year, while the pay for women has risen to $1,094 from $1,029. That means the wage gap as of the middle of this year is 82%, up slightly from 81.8% a year ago but still down from a mid-2023 peak of 84.6%.

What’s Keeping The Wage Gap in Place

The Census Bureau says that the gap has shrunk from women earning about 60% of what men make in the 1960s, to 70% by the 1990s, and the metric has been above 80% for much of the last decade. A number of anti-discrimination laws and more women entering the workforce over the decades has helped to close the gap, but there are still several reasons why the gap persists.

Women are still more likely to be employed in jobs that traditionally offer lower pay, like education, child care, nursing, or administrative assistant work. Meanwhile, men and white men in particular, are more likely to hold higher-paying jobs like working as a doctor or dentist, CEO, and airline pilot.

One 2024 study offered another explanation, predicting that the increasing number of retirements that come as Baby Boomers age out of the workforce would widen the gender wage gap as they free up higher-paying jobs for entry-level workers to be promoted into that are more likely to go to young men.

There are some methods for how women can increase their earnings, like getting more education from a college or certifications within a specific field, or simply talking more openly about salary and benefits with friends and coworkers to have more information to prepare the next time a potential raise could be discussed.

The Bottom Line

The wage gap for how much women earn compared to men widened in 2024 compared to 2023, as the median earnings for women grew at a slower rate than pay for men. However, recent data shows that the gap has narrowed again so far this year, but it’s still below its peak of above 84% reached in mid-2023. The gap still exists for many reasons, partly because of educational and occupational trends, but experts recommend women talk openly about their earnings with friends and colleagues, and be prepared to ask for a raise when they feel one is deserved.