The US gender wage gap narrowed in 2025, but the gains were not shared equally. Black women working full-time earned just 63.8 cents for every dollar earned by a White man – with pay equity still more than two centuries away.
The US gender wage gap improved in 2025 after two years of backsliding, but new analysis warns that the progress was far from evenly shared. Women working full-time year-round earned 83.9 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2025, up from 80.6 cents in 2024, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR).
For all women with earnings – including those working part-time or part-year – the ratio also improved, from 75.3 cents to 77.5 cents for every dollar earned by men. But behind those headline gains, racial disparities remain stark. Black women working full-time year-round earned just 63.8 cents for every dollar earned by a White man, while Latina women earned 59.8 cents.
And at the current pace of progress, IWPR estimates Black women will not achieve pay equity until 2230, while Latina women could wait until 2156. That equates to more than six generations for Black women and nearly four generations for Latina women.
IMPROVEMENT MASKS DEEPER INEQUALITY
The overall gender wage gap narrowed because real earnings for women working full-time year-round increased by 3.2% in 2025, while men’s earnings largely plateaued. For all workers with earnings, women’s real earnings increased by 2.2%, while men’s fell by 0.7%.
IWPR cautions, however, that the improvement should not be interpreted as evidence that women’s wider labour-market position has fundamentally improved. The wage gap has effectively returned to its 2022 level, rather than breaking into new territory.
“While today’s findings were surprising given that the wage gap for weekly earnings widened for an unprecedented third year in a row, they reflect an economy in which costs continue to go up, wage growth is not happening fast enough, and every household member must work as much as possible,” said Dr Kate Bahn, IWPR’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Research. “Rather than signifying a real improvement in women’s labour market outcomes, this narrowing is merely a return to prior trends, and Black and Latina women are still being left behind.”
The findings come amid a wider affordability crisis in which households are increasingly dependent on multiple earners and workers have fewer opportunities to change jobs and negotiate higher pay.
BLACK WOMEN’S EARNINGS FELL
For Black women, the picture worsened. The median annual earnings of Black women working full-time year-round fell by 1.7% to $51,950 in 2025. That left Black women earning $29,500 less per year than White men working full-time year-round. Their gender and racial earnings ratio fell to 63.8% of White men’s earnings.
For Black women across all working patterns, including part-time and part-year work, the ratio improved slightly from 62.3% to 64% of White men’s earnings. But the broader economic context remains concerning. IWPR says Black women experienced substantial employment losses during 2025 before employment levels recovered in early 2026.
The pattern echoes earlier economic crises. Fair Play Talks reported during the pandemic that Black women and Latinas were among those hardest hit by job losses, with unemployment rates for both groups significantly higher than those of White men.
The persistence of those vulnerabilities raises questions about who benefits first when the labour market improves, and who absorbs the greatest economic losses when it weakens.
LATINA WOMEN EARN JUST 59.8 CENTS TO THE DOLLAR
Latina women also remain among the lowest-paid groups in the US labour market. Their median annual earnings for full-time year-round work were $48,670 in 2025, equivalent to just 59.8 cents for every dollar earned by a White man. That translates into an annual earnings gap of $32,780.
Latina women are also less likely than other groups of women to work full-time year-round, with just 63.4% doing so. When all workers with earnings are included – part-time, part-year and full-time – the picture becomes even worse.
Latina women earned just 52.6 cents for every dollar earned by a White man, down by 1.2 percentage points from the previous year. Across all working patterns, the typical Latina woman earned $33,370 less than a White man in a single year.
The findings echo longstanding concerns highlighted by Fair Play Talks. On Latina Equal Pay Day, it was reported that Latinas could lose close to $1.2 million over a 40-year career because of gender and racial wage inequality.
WORKPLACE EXPERIENCE COMPOUNDS PAY INEQUALITY
Pay disparities do not exist in isolation. Fair Play Talks has previously reported that around half of Latinx employees experience discrimination or bias at work, with Latina employees reporting particularly poor workplace experiences. More recent research found that many Hispanic and Latin employees feel pressure to downplay aspects of their identity or personality in order to succeed at work.
That study found 45% of Hispanic and Latin women believed their employer did not pay them appropriately, compared with 25% of Hispanic and Latin men. It also found 40% of Latinas said their salary was insufficient to support their dependants, compared with 19% of Hispanic and Latin men.
Taken together, the evidence suggests that the wage gap is only one part of a much wider workplace inequality picture encompassing progression, inclusion, representation and economic security.
PAY EQUITY STILL GENERATIONS AWAY
IWPR’s long-term projections underline how slow progress has become. Based on changes in earnings ratios over the past two decades, women working full-time year-round overall would not reach pay equity with men until 2071.
For all workers with earnings, parity would not arrive until 2086. But the wait is substantially longer for Black and Latina women. IWPR estimates:
- Black women: 2230
- Latina women: 2156
That means pay equity remains more than two centuries away for Black women and more than a century away for Latina women.
“Black and Latina women – and our entire economy – cannot afford to wait more than a century for them to be paid the value they contribute to our economy,” stated IWPR President and CEO Dr Jamila K Taylor. “From the more than 250,000 Black women who lost jobs in 2025 amid the administration’s attacks on federal employees, to the Latina women facing fear and uncertainty thanks to immigration enforcement that targets their communities, women of colour are bearing the brunt of our sluggish economy, and the need for real policy change is more urgent than ever.”
IWPR attributes part of the recent pressure on Black women to job losses connected with federal employment reductions, while also arguing that immigration enforcement is creating additional uncertainty for Latina communities. Those interpretations are IWPR’s analysis of the labour-market context rather than findings directly measured in the Census earnings data.
WOMEN-DOMINATED SECTORS ARE GROWING, BUT REMAIN UNDERVALUED
Another factor behind the narrowing headline wage gap is where jobs are growing. Healthcare and educational services were among the biggest sources of job creation in 2025 – sectors in which women are heavily represented. But IWPR notes that earnings in these sectors remain substantially lower than in many other areas of the economy.
This raises a broader question about how work traditionally performed by women is valued. Improving women’s employment rates will not necessarily close the wage gap if women remain concentrated in occupations that are systematically lower-paid. Occupational segregation therefore remains an important part of the problem.
WHAT EMPLOYERS SHOULD DO NEXT
While public policy plays a major role in determining pay equity, employers also have substantial influence over whether racial and gender pay gaps persist within their own organisations.
Businesses should consider:
- Auditing pay by both gender and race, rather than looking at gender averages alone.
- Examining intersectional pay gaps, including the experience of Black women, Latinas and other women of colour.
- Reviewing starting salaries, where early differences can compound throughout a career.
- Removing salary-history questions that can perpetuate previous underpayment.
- Increasing pay transparency, including clear salary ranges and progression criteria.
- Reviewing promotion and bonus decisions for unexplained racial and gender disparities.
- Analysing occupational segregation, including whether women of colour are concentrated in lower-paid functions.
- Reviewing access to sponsorship and high-value assignments that lead to better-paid leadership roles.
- Supporting caregiving, including paid leave and flexible working that does not damage progression.
- Examining job quality and wage levels in women-dominated roles.
- Holding senior leaders accountable for measurable pay-equity progress.
These measures are consistent with recommendations Fair Play Talks has highlighted previously around closing the Latina pay gap and taking concrete action on Black women’s pay inequality.
WHY CURRENT PROGRESS IS NOT ENOUGH
The 2025 data demonstrates why broad gender averages can tell only part of the story. Women overall made measurable earnings gains. But those gains were not evenly distributed.
Black women working full-time saw earnings decline. Latina women remained among the lowest-paid groups and saw their wage ratio worsen when all working patterns were included. And for both groups, pay parity remains generations away.
The central lesson is therefore not that the gender wage gap has suddenly been solved. It is that progress cannot be judged only by whether the average gap narrows. For employers and policymakers, the more important question is which women are benefiting from progress, and which are still being left behind.
Read the full IWPR report here.
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