Census Bureau Reports on the Gender Gap in Median Income and Earnings From Work in 2020

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 2020 was $49,214. 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 2020, the median income figure was $67,304. For married-couple families, the median income was $101,517. Thus, the median income level for family households headed by a single woman was 73.1 percent of the median income for family households headed by a single man and 48.5 percent of the median income of married-couple families. Both of these income gaps narrowed slightly from the previous year in 2019.

For single women living alone, the median income in 2020 was $35,574. For single men living alone, the median income was $47,259. Thus, single women had a median income of 75.3 percent of the median income of single men.

Women had median earnings from work in 2020 of $35,838. For men, median earnings were $49,389. Thus women earned 72.6 percent of what men earned. In 2019, women earned 73.5 percent of what men earned at work.

For year-round, full-time workers in 2020, women had median earnings of $50,982. This was 83 percent of the median earnings of male year-round, full-time workers.