New Census Data Shows a Persisting Major Gender Gap in Median Income in the United States

The U.S. Census Bureau has released its annual report on income in the United States. According to data in the report, the median income of households headed by a single woman in the United States in 2016 was $41,027. These households made up 19 percent of all family households in the United States. The median income figure shows the point where half of all families earn below this level and half earn above this level.

For households headed by a single man in 2016, the median income figure was $58,057. For married-couple families, the median income was $87,057. Thus, the median income level for family households headed by a single woman was 70.7 percent of the median income for family households headed by a single man and 47.1 percent of the median income of married-couple families.

For single women living alone, the median income in 2016 was $30,572. For single men living alone, the median income was $41,749. Thus, single women had a median income of 73.2 percent of the median income of single men.

The good news is that the gender gap in median income grew a bit smaller from 2015 to 2016.