Nationally, women who work full time earn about 80 cents for every dollar earned by men – a statistic widely used to summarize the gender income gap in the United States. While broadly accurate, national averages conceal the true complexity of the gap, one that is deeply uneven at the county level.
Using 2020–2024 American Community Survey data in Social Explorer, this analysis examines the gender income gap across 3,216 U.S. counties by comparing median earnings for full-time, year-round workers. Looking county by county reveals a far more fragmented landscape: in some parts of the United States, women earn less than half of what men earn, while in others they earn significantly more at the median level.
The National Pattern of the Gender Income Gap
To compare counties consistently, this analysis calculates: (Female Median Earnings ÷ Male Median Earnings) × 100
In practical terms, the typical U.S. county shows women earning roughly 81 cents per dollar earned by men, or about $57,077 compared with $70,176 for men. Most counties cluster within a relatively narrow band of moderate inequality aligned with the national average, suggesting that while extreme cases attract attention, the gender income gap remains a widespread structural feature across local labor markets. However, it’s important to examine the outliers and to understand that the gender income gap is not monolithic.
Where the Gender Income Gap Is Widest
The gender income gap among full-time employees is widest in smaller rural counties where local economies remain heavily structured around male-dominated research or natural-resource extraction industries. These counties stand out as concentrated pockets of inequality on the national map.
In Eureka County, Nevada (a global center for gold mining), women working full-time earn a median income of roughly $36,570, compared with about $96,489 for men – meaning women earn just 37.9% of male earnings there. Jeff Davis County, Texas (where the McDonald Observatory is located and where the gender income gap is the highest in the country), shows a similar but less dramatic pattern, with women earning about $60,451 compared with roughly $111,389 for men (45.7). Sublette County, Wyoming (a center for natural gas extraction) has a similar profile with women earning around $47,003, compared with approximately $96,658 for men (48.6).
Education further reinforces these patterns. Across the dataset, counties with the widest gender income gaps consistently show lower educational attainment levels. In many of these counties, fewer than 15–18% of women hold a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with national female attainment levels closer to the mid-30 percent range. Combined with limited occupational diversity and heavy reliance on resource-based industries, these structural conditions help sustain persistent wage inequality.
Where Women Earn More: Reversals in the Gender Income Gap
At the same time, counties whose economies are dominated by education and healthcare challenge common narratives about the gender income gap by showing women working full time earn more than men at the median level.
In Custer County, Texas, women working full-time earn a median income of about $85,769, compared with roughly $63,125 for men, producing one of the highest earnings ratios in the country (135.8). In Guadalupe County, New Mexico, women earn approximately $61,283, compared with around $39,839 for men (153.8). Similarly, in Storey County, New Mexico, women earn about $83,531, compared with roughly $69,330 for men (120.5).
These outcomes do not signal universal female economic advantage but instead reflect specific local labor market conditions – particularly higher concentrations of high-level management and government administration, roles that are increasingly held by women with advanced degrees. However, these counties also reveal an important reality: in the top cases where women earn more, the gender income gap is significantly less than in the male-dominated counties.
Across these counties, female educational attainment tends to fall closer to national averages rather than exceeding them significantly, suggesting that local wage structures – not education alone – often drive these outcomes.
Where the Gender Income Gap Is Narrowest
While extremes often dominate discussion, the most revealing story lies closer to the middle of the distribution. Across all counties, the median gender income gap ratio is 81.3, but several urban counties tend to cluster closer to parity.
These counties share several defining characteristics: local economies built around a single, dominant institution or industry, such as local government and tourism, and an annual income ceiling that is well below the national median incomes for full-time workers.
A Geography of Uneven Opportunity
County-level data reveals a far more complex story than national averages suggest. While the typical U.S. county shows women earning about 81% of men's earnings, the gender income gap varies dramatically – from over 150 in some counties to near parity in others.
As Women's History Month highlights both progress and ongoing challenges, this geographic perspective underscores a central reality: the gender income gap in the United States is not one story, but thousands of local ones. Where women live, and the structure of the economies around them, continues to shape what they earn.
Explore the Gender Income Gap in Your Community
The data behind this analysis is available to anyone. With a free Social Explorer account, you can map the gender income gap and hundreds of other demographic indicators at the county, zip code, census tract, and neighborhood level – no technical expertise required.
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