The Gender Gap in Median Income Widened in 2021

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 2021 was $51,168. These households made up 18.5 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. Income includes earnings, rental fees, interest, dividends, and money from other sources.

For households headed by a single man in 2021, the median income figure was $70,525. For married-couple families, the median income was $106,921. Thus, the median income level for family households headed by a single woman was 72.6 percent of the median income for family households headed by a single man. This was down from 73.1 percent in 2020. The median income level for family households headed by a single woman was 47.9 percent of the median income of married-couple families, down from 48.5 percent a year ago.

For single women living alone, the median income in 2020 was $35,737. For single men living alone, the median income was $49,466. Thus, single women had a median income of 72.2 percent of the median income of single men, down from 75.3 percent in 2020.

Women had median earnings from work in 2021 of $39,201. For men, median earnings were $50,983. Thus women earned 76.9 percent of what men earned.

For year-round, full-time workers in 2021, women had median earnings of $51,266. This was 83.8 percent of the median earnings of male year-round, full-time workers.