Gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation in United States
United States: Gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation was 19.2% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation in United States, 2003–2025
Source: International Labour Organization (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2025, gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation in United States stood at 19.2%. That is the highest value across all 23 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 25.3% on the previous year and up 36.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation in United States peaked at 19.2% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 11.2%, in 2022.
That places United States 10th out of 67 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 23 years of available data.
Gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation in United States, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 17.9% | — |
| 2004 | 17.7% | -1.0% |
| 2005 | 19.0% | +7.6% |
| 2006 | 18.1% | -4.8% |
| 2007 | 16.8% | -7.5% |
| 2008 | 17.5% | +4.5% |
| 2009 | 16.4% | -6.4% |
| 2010 | 14.5% | -11.6% |
| 2011 | 12.6% | -13.1% |
| 2012 | 14.8% | +17.2% |
| 2013 | 16.8% | +13.6% |
| 2014 | 14.4% | -14.3% |
| 2015 | 14.0% | -2.4% |
| 2016 | 13.4% | -4.8% |
| 2017 | 12.7% | -5.3% |
| 2018 | 13.8% | +8.9% |
| 2019 | 14.0% | +1.3% |
| 2020 | 13.8% | -1.3% |
| 2021 | 13.8% | -0.1% |
| 2022 | 11.2% | -18.6% |
| 2023 | 13.5% | +20.6% |
| 2024 | 15.3% | +13.5% |
| 2025 | 19.2% | +25.3% |
United States compared with similar countries
- United States's 19.2% is above the median for high income countries, which is 14.9%, 1.3× the median. (21 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 17.6% | 16.4% | 19.0% | 7 |
| 2010s | 14.1% | 12.6% | 16.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 14.5% | 11.2% | 19.2% | 6 |
Countries ranked near United States
More work & labour data for United States
- Persons outside the labour force (ILO modelled estimates) 113,208 (2027)
- Labour force participation rate (ILO modelled estimates) 61.24 (2027)
- Labour force (ILO modelled estimates) 178,849 (2027)
- Unemployment rate (ILO modelled estimates) 4.4 (2027)
- Labour dependency ratio 1.05 (2027)
- Output per worker, GDP constant 2021 international $ at PPP 159,991 (2027)
- Output per worker, GDP constant 2015 US $ 141,322 (2027)
- Employment-to-population ratio (ILO modelled estimates) 58.55 (2027)
- Persons outside the labour force (ILO modelled estimates) (15+) 1.27 % change on previous year (2027)
- Labour force (ILO modelled estimates) (15+), annual growth rate 0.3372 % change on previous year (2027)
Frequently asked questions
- What is gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation in United States?
- Gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation in United States was 19.2% in 2025, according to International Labour Organization (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation recorded in United States?
- The highest recorded value was 19.2% in 2025.
- What is the lowest gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 11.2% in 2022.
- How does United States rank for gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation?
- United States ranks 10th out of 67 countries with data for 2025.
- Is gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation rising or falling in United States?
- Over the last ten years it is up 36.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this United States data come from?
- The figures come from International Labour Organization (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Gender wage gap vs. ratio of female-to-male labor force participation. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 23 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Difference between average earnings of men and average earnings of women expressed as a percentage of average earnings of men.