In 2023 the Current Population Survey reported Asian women earning 79 per cent of Asian men's median weekly earnings, White women 83 per cent of White men's, Hispanic women 87 per cent of Hispanic men's and Black women 92 per cent of Black men's. Each ratio compares within a group, not against the highest-earning group, so a high ratio can reflect low male earnings rather than high female ones.
Read the denominator
The figure for Black women is 92 per cent of Black men’s earnings. That is not a statement that Black women earn 92 per cent of all men’s earnings, and reporting it as though it were is a common and serious misreading.
A narrow within-group ratio can occur where both groups have low median earnings. The ratio measures the distance between two points; it says nothing about where either point sits.
Age changes the picture more than most factors
In 2023, women aged 16 to 24 earned 94 per cent of what men the same age earned, and women 25 to 34 earned 89 per cent. Among workers 35 and over, the range was 77 to 83 per cent. The gap is substantially a phenomenon of the second half of a career.
The gap is wider in higher-paying occupations
Which is counter-intuitive and consistent in the data. Some of the largest differences appear among financial specialists, medical scientists and securities sales agents, where median earnings are high for both groups and far apart.
Meanwhile there are detailed occupations where women’s median earnings match or exceed men’s, including producers and directors and several clerical and health-support roles.
What no published US source gives you
A national dataset combining sex, race, occupation and geography at fine detail, because sample sizes will not carry it. Anyone presenting one has modeled it, and the model is the thing to examine.
Using these figures
Quote the comparison group every time. “Black women earned 92 per cent of what Black men earned” is a sentence that survives scrutiny; the same number without its denominator does not.
Common questions
What do the by-group figures compare?
Each group of women against the men in the same group — not against the highest-earning group. The denominator changes with each row.
Why is the ratio for Black women higher?
Because it is measured against Black men's earnings. A narrow ratio can reflect low earnings for both groups rather than high earnings for either.
Does age matter?
Considerably. In 2023 women 16 to 24 earned 94 per cent of men the same age, and those 35 and over between 77 and 83 per cent.
Are gaps larger in well-paid jobs?
Generally yes. Some of the widest differences appear in high-earning occupations such as financial specialists and medical scientists.
Is there a dataset combining everything?
Not at fine detail. Sample sizes will not support sex, race, occupation and geography together, so anything presenting that has been modeled.