March 26 is Equal Pay Day—the date that marks how far into 2026 women must work to earn what men earned in 2025. Put another way, women must work nearly three additional months to make what men earned in 12 months.

In 2025, women working full-time, year-round earned 81 cents for every dollar earned by men. The gap is larger when looking at all workers—including part-time and part-year workers—where women earned 76 cents on the dollar.

These pay gaps accumulate over the life course – with women earning $12,000 to $15,000 less per year depending on work status. This amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost earnings over a lifetime (NWLC).

The wage gap is found in every state. The map below shows the gap in earnings for both full-time year-round (FTYR) workers and all workers, including part-time and part-year workers. Data are from the 2020–2024 American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Use the navigation button in the bottom right corner to toggle between FTYR and all workers.

Among full-time, year-round workers, the states with the largest gaps are:

• Utah (earning 71.9 cents for every dollar men earned)
• Louisiana (72.2 cents)
• Wyoming (74.0 cents)

The states with the smallest gaps are:

• Vermont (earning 90.0 cents for every dollar men earned)
• The District of Columbia (D.C.) (87.7 cents)
• Maryland (87.6 cents)

When all workers are included, the gap widens across states.

The states with the largest wage gaps are:

• Utah (earning 60.2 cents for every dollar men earned)
• Idaho (64.3 cents)
• Louisiana (65.0 cents)

The states with the smallest wage gaps are:

• Vermont (earning 86.8 cents for every dollar men earned)
• The District of Columbia (D.C.) (85.1 cents)
• Delaware (80.7 cents)

In every state, the wage gap is larger for all workers than for full-time, year-round workers. This pattern reflects broader labor market dynamics: women are more likely to work part-time, take time out of the labor force, or be concentrated in lower-paying jobs.

Pay gaps between men and women are even more significant for women of color and parents. View our blogs “The Wage Gap for Mothers by State” and “The Gender Wage Gap by Race and State” to see the breakdowns.

The Gender Wage Gap by Age

Age also shapes the wage gap. Pay disparities increase over the life course.

Among all workers:

• Women ages 25 to 34 earn 84 cents for every dollar earned by men of the same age
• Women ages 65 and older earn just 63 cents on the dollar

The gap is smaller early in workers’ careers and widens over time, with older women facing substantially larger earnings losses than younger workers.