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  1. Economy and Politics
  2. Inequality and Discrimination

The 10 Best and Worst States for the Gender Wage Gap

By:
Ethan Wolff-Mann
2 min read
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, of Maryland waits for her colleagues to arrive before a news conference on the Senate steps of the Capitol to support equal pay for women and an increase in the minimum wage. - Tom Williams—Getty Images/CQ Roll Call
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, of Maryland waits for her colleagues to arrive before a news conference on the Senate steps of the Capitol to support equal pay for women and an increase in the minimum wage. Tom Williams—Getty Images/CQ Roll Call

The American Association of University Women recently released its latest report on the wage gap between men and women, and once again finds that the U.S. still has a long way to go toward gender equality. Today, a woman with full-time job earns 79 cents for every dollar earned by a man. (Though some jobs have smaller wage gaps than others.) The AAUW also shows the wage gap state by state, based on the latest Census data, as well as by Congressional district.

In some part of the country, Refinery29 notes, the wage gap is similar to where the country was way back in the early 1980s, when the average woman took home less than 65 cents for every dollar a man was paid.

Here are the states with the biggest wage gaps, shown by the average pay for a full-time working woman per $1 earned by a man.

  1. Louisiana 65 cents
  2. Utah 67 cents
  3. Wyoming 69 cents
  4. West Virginia 70 cents
  5. North Dakota 71 cents
  6. Alabama 73 cents
  7. Idaho 73 cents
  8. Oklahoma 73 cents
  9. Montana 74 cents
  10. Michigan 75 cents

Here are the states with the smallest wage gap:

  1. New York 87 cents
  2. Hawaii 86 cents
  3. Maryland 85 cents
  4. Nevada 85 cents
  5. Florida 85 cents
  6. North Carolina 85 cents
  7. California 84 cents
  8. Arizona 84 cents
  9. Vermont 84 cents
  10. Connecticut 83 cesnts

Washington, D.C. gets an honorable mention with women earning a high of 90 cents on the male dollar.

 

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