Washington state has one of the widest gender pay gaps
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Washington has one of the nation's highest gender pay gaps, according to 2023 census data.
Why it matters: Gender pay differences reflect in part "a lack of workplace policies that support family caregiving, which is still most often performed by women," writes the National Partnership for Women and Families.
- Women continue to be overrepresented in lower-paying professions, and "family caregiving responsibilities bring different pressures for working women and men," according to the Pew Research Center.
By the numbers: The median pay for women who worked in Washington state in 2023 was about $17,400 less than for men, according to data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
- That's the sixth-largest dollar gap among U.S. states, the Washington state Women's Commission said in a news release.
- Still, it marks an improvement from 2022, when Washington's gender wage gap was about $1,000 wider, the commission said.
Yes, but: "Black women, Indigenous women, and other women of color continue to face significantly larger wage gaps compared to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts," according to the commission.
Case in point: The median pay for working Latina women in Washington was about $37,000 less than for white men in 2023, the commission said. Meanwhile, the wage gap between white men and white women was roughly $23,000.
Zoom out: Utah had the highest overall gender wage gap in 2023, ($21,400), while Vermont had the lowest (about $8,500), according to census data.