# Gay wage gap

The gay wage gap is the pay gap between homosexuals and heterosexuals. In the United States, men in same-sex marriages have a significantly higher median household income ($141,900) than both opposite-sex married couples ($124,900) and gay women in same-sex marriages ($113,000) due to the gender pay gap. Individual gay men earn 10% more than straight men with similar education, experience and job profiles, and individual gay men who are married have a significantly higher median income than heterosexual married men. However, because of the gender pay gap, married same-sex female couples make less than heterosexual married couples.
The economic advantages gay men experience in the US is most striking in poverty rates. Among married households, 2.7% of gay men live in poverty, while 4.2% of opposite-sex married couples live in poverty. Without men's salaries to account for, 5% of same-sex female couples live in poverty.
US Census data has found that the wage advantages same-gender couples have over different-gender couples—being dual earners, having higher education and living in urban areas—did not benefit same-gender female couples in the way way they did male couples.

## Phenomenon

Full-time employed gay men earn, on average, 10 percent more than straight men.
Kirk Snyder, professor at the USC business-school, noted that gay people are better entrepreneurs. Gay managers have a 25% higher level of employee engagement. The National Transgender Discrimination Survey reported, that trans people are up to four times as likely to earn less than $10,000 and twice as likely to be unemployed due to discrimination. In the 2013–2015 National Health Surveys analysed by Christopher Carpenter and Samuel Eppink, they found that gay, full-time employed men made, on average, 10% more than similarly employed straight men even when controlling for various other factors.

## Wage discrimination by country
### Netherlands

Gay men are economically advantaged in the Netherlands. Same-sex male couples have the highest combined income from work or business, the so-called primary income. Their average gross annual income is 15 thousand euros higher compared to opposite-sex couples. The incomes of lesbian and straight couples are more or less the same.

### Germany

Taking into account age, education, and industry, gay men earn less than heterosexuals even though they tend to be better educated than the average population.

### Australia

An Australian study has shown that gay men earn 13% less than their straight counterparts. Meanwhile, lesbians earn 13% more than straight women. La Nauze, economist at University of Melbourne, noted: "There are grounds for concern that workers in Australia, particularly gay men, are discriminated against because of their sexual orientation."

### United States

A study of the 2013–15 National Health Interview Surveys found that gay, full-time employed men made, on average, 10% more than similarly employed straight men. The same study showed that lesbians received a pay premium of 9%. Bisexual men and women earned less than both gay and straight counterparts.

## Wage discrimination by orientation
### Gay women

Gay women make a median of 1.4% more than heterosexual women, but make 25.6% less than heterosexual men. Women who are between the ages of 18 and 44, 29% of bisexual women and 23% of lesbian women are experiencing poverty, compared to 21% of heterosexual women. But, lesbians still earn less than the regular household income of a heterosexual couple because of the gender wage gap. As a result, lesbian couples/households are more likely to live in poverty than heterosexual couples/households. Thus, gay women in relationships are disadvantaged because their income is totally composed of women's salaries.
Men earn more than women in most occupations, and this inequality plays out regardless of sexual orientation. In fact, in Badgett's 2009 review, some studies showed that while lesbians earned more than heterosexual women, they made less than straight and gay men.

### Gay men

Gay men earn highest median income. Gay male married couples earn a median income of $141,900, compared to cis married couples ($124,900) and gay female married couples ($113,000).

### Transgender individuals

The highest pay gap is for trans women, since they receive $0.60 for every $1 a straight cisgender man receives. However, the pay gap for trans men is a bit lower since they receive $0.70 for every $1 a straight cisgender man gets.
Transgender adults are nearly 4 times as likely to have a household income of under $10,000 per year.