If you’re struggling to make ends meet in your state, the answer may lie in a sobering statistic: the gender wage gap. New data shows this pervasive inequality is a major driver behind the rising cost of living that’s squeezing workers across the country.
According to the latest U.S. News & World Report analysis, the states with the biggest gender wage gaps also tend to have the highest costs of living. What this really means is that women’s lower average earnings — which can be 20 cents or more below a man’s dollar in some regions — make it exponentially harder to afford basic necessities like housing, food, and healthcare.
The Widening Divide
The bigger picture here is that the gender pay gap is not only stubbornly persistent, but it’s actually widening in many parts of the country. According to the latest U.S. Census data, women working full-time earned a median of just 82 cents for every dollar a man made in 2022. That’s a gap of over $11,000 per year.
This disparity is particularly acute in states with high costs of living, like California, New York, and Massachusetts. As Newsweek reports, many young workers in these areas don’t even view a $74,000 salary as “middle class” anymore — that’s how much the goalposts have shifted.
A Vicious Cycle
The implications of this wage gap are stark. When women earn less, it becomes exponentially harder for them to afford the skyrocketing costs of housing, childcare, healthcare, and other essentials in high-cost states. This, in turn, makes it more difficult for them to build wealth, save for retirement, and achieve financial security.
And the ripple effects don’t stop there. As AOL reports, many Gen Z workers already feel they’re not being paid fairly, with a third saying they deserve salaries of $70,000 to $100,000 just to live comfortably. This wage gap fuels that perception, contributing to job dissatisfaction, burnout, and the so-called “Great Resignation” that’s plaguing employers.
The bottom line is that closing the gender wage gap isn’t just a moral imperative — it’s also an economic necessity. Until we address this persistent inequality, workers across the country will continue to struggle under the weight of rising costs of living, no matter how hard they work.