What is the gender pay gap in California? See wage differences in US on an interactive map

Though the gender wage gap has narrowed, women still make less than men, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In most states — including California — the gap is even wider.

The national median earnings wage gap between men and women working full-time in 2022 was nearly $10,000, according to data from the Census Bureau. Men made a median of $62,350 annually. Women earned $52,360. That gap is $9,990.

In 1960, the first year with data available, women earned about 61 cents for every dollar. Now, it’s about 82 cents per dollar, the Pew Research Center reports.

The wage gap shrank over the years, but has remained stagnant for the last two decades, according to the Pew Research Center. The center’s 2023 analysis of both full and part-time workers found women earned an average of 82% of what men earned.

The Pew Research Center also found the pay gap is narrower among young workers, with women ages 25 to 34 earning an average of 92 cents for every dollar a man in the same age group earned.

The gender pay gap is just one of many — such as gaps when broken down by race or gender identity — that exist in the U.S. For example, Latina women earned about 58 cents, Black women earned 63 cents, and white women earned 70 cents for every dollar earned by white men, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Women have made gains in education, representation in different fields and work experience, which has contributed to the narrowing of the gap over the years, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

But the gap is still there. And it widens when looking at individual states.

How big is the gender wage gap in your state?

We used Census data to put together a map of the gender wage gap in each state, looking at the median earnings of men and women over 25 years old and finding the difference.

Note: The statistics we looked at differ from data on median household income, which includes sources of outside of earnings and parttime work. The Census data presented below is based on pretax money income and includes earnings for full-time, year-round workers.

Utah had the highest gap. Men earned $63,245 while women earned $38,217 — a difference of $25,028. New Hampshire and Washington state were next, with gaps of $18,821 and $18,757, respectively.

The smallest gap was in Vermont, with a difference of $7,459. New Mexico had a gap of $8,717 and Nevada had a gap of $9,239.

California ranked 34th. Men earned a $59,577 and women earned $46,176, for a difference of $13,401.

Here’s a map of each state’s wage gap.

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