Women Make Slight Gains in Closing the Income Gap With Men

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 2022 was $56,030. These households made up 11.4 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 2022, the median income figure was $73,630. For married-couple families, the median income was $110,800. Thus, the median income level for family households headed by a single woman was 76.1 percent of the median income for family households headed by a single man. This was up from 72.6 percent in 2021. The median income level for family households headed by a single woman was 50.6 percent of the median income of married-couple families, up from 47.9 percent a year ago.

For single women living alone, the median income in 2022 was $40,200. For single men living alone, the median income was $51,930. Thus, single women had a median income of 77.4 percent of the median income of single men, up from 72.6 percent in 2021.

Women had median earnings from work in 2022 of $41,320. For men, median earnings were $52,770. Thus, women earned 80.5 percent of what men earned. This was an increase from 76.9 percent in 2021.

For year-round, full-time workers in 2022, women had median earnings of $52,360. This was 84 percent of the median earnings of male year-round, full-time workers, up from 83.8 percent in 2021.