Gender-based wage disparities remain: What’s the gap in your state?

Even now, gender-based wage disparities still exist across the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s analysis of data from the 2019 American Community Survey. 

“This research found the wage gap both within and across occupations,” Megan Wisniewski, a survey statistician in the federal agency’s Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division told the Cache Valley Daily. “That study focused on the wage gap by sex for each state’s top occupation and the difference in earnings for the top occupations by sex.”

Puerto Rico appears to be an anomaly, where there is little or no gap in median earnings between men and women. The wage gap in Puerto Rico was not statistically different, with median earnings of $22,804 for men and $23,478 for women.

National median earnings for civilians who worked full time and year-round  for the previous 12 months at the time of the survey was $53,544 for men compared with $43,394 for women, according to the Census Bureau. Mitigating factors in the data include age, age, number of hours worked, presence of children and education. The types of jobs women and men hold, and the earnings difference among these occupations, also contribute to gaps in overall earnings, the bureau said.

In general, according to the data, the top occupations for men were driver/sales workers and truck drivers; managers, all other; and first-line supervisors of retail sales workers. For women, the top occupations were elementary and middle school teachers; registered nurses; and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical and executive.

“This research finds the wage gap both within and across occupations, as shown by the wage gap by sex for each state’s top occupation and the difference in earnings for the top occupations by sex,” the Census Bureau said. 

Places with a wage gap above $15,000 included Wyoming, $21,676; Utah, $17,303; and the District of Columbia, $16,032. The Census Bureau offers an interactive map to learn of the wage disparities for each state. The map also shows the largest occupations for male and female workers.