American Community Survey Briefs

U.S. Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

U S C E N S U S B U R E A U

Helping You Make Informed Decisions

Men’s and Women’s Earnings for 

States and Metropolitan Statistical 

Areas: 2009

INTRODUCTION

This report presents data on men’s and 

women’s earnings at the national, state, 

and metropolitan levels based on the 

2009 American Community Survey (ACS). 

“Earnings” are defi ned as the sum of 

wages, salary, and net self-employment 

income and do not include other income 

sources such as property income, government cash transfers, or other types of 

cash income. Estimates are restricted to 

full-time, year-round workers 16 years 

or older. To be considered a “year-round” 

worker, an individual must have worked 

50 or more weeks in the past 12 months, 

including paid time off for vacation or 

sick leave. To be considered “full-time” 

an individual must have worked 35 or 

more hours per week in the weeks they 

worked in the past 12 months.

In the 2009 ACS, information on earnings was collected between January 2009 

and December 2009. Respondents were 

asked about income from the previous 12 

months. As a result, the 2009 ACS reference periods span a total of 23 months 

(January 2008 to November 2009).1 

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S EARNINGS

For full-time, year-round workers, the 

2009 ACS median earnings for women 

were 78.2 percent of men’s earnings—$35,549 compared with $45,485. 

As compared with 2008, median earnings for men were up from $45,161, 

median earnings for women were up 

from $35,104, and the ratio of women’s 

earnings to men’s earnings was up from 

77.7.2,3

Women’s earnings were lower than men’s 

earnings in each of the 50 states and in 

the District of Columbia. Women’s earnings were higher than men’s in Puerto 

Rico.

In the District of Columbia and eight 

states—Arizona, California, Florida, 

Maryland, New York, Nevada, North 

Carolina, and Texas—the women’s-tomen’s earnings ratios were 80 percent 

or more and statistically higher than the 

national ratio of 78.2.4

At 88.2 percent, the District of Columbia 

was among the highest ratios of women’s 

to men’s earnings. Wyoming, at 65.5 

percent, was among the lowest.5

In Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, 

New Hampshire, New Jersey, Washington, 

and the District of Columbia, median 

men’s earnings were more than $50,000. 

Issued September 2010

ACSBR/09-3

By

David M. Getz

1 All income data are infl ation adjusted to 

2009 dollars.

2 2008 data are available via the Census 

Bureau Web site’s American Fact Finder tool at 

<factfi nder.census.gov>. Income data for data 

year 2008 are available in subject table S2002. 3 In addition to varying by sex, earnings vary 

widely based on occupation. For more information, see Day, Jennifer Cheeseman and Jeff rey 

Rosenthal, 2009, “Detailed Occupations and 

Median Earnings: 2008,” U.S. Census Bureau, 

<www.census.gov/hhes/www/ioindex/reports

.html>. 4 The ratio of women’s-to-men’s earnings for 

the District of Columbia was not statistically different from those of Arizona, California, Florida, 

Maryland, Nevada, or New York. 5 The ratio of women’s-to-men’s earnings 

for Wyoming was not statistically diff erent from 

those of Louisiana, Utah, and West Virginia.
2 U.S. Census Bureau

Only the District of Columbia had 

median women’s earnings above 

$50,000.

EARNINGS INSIDE 

AND OUTSIDE OF 

METROPOLITAN AREAS

The 2009 ACS median earnings 

were $41,735 for people who 

worked full-time, year-round and 

lived in metropolitan areas. For 

people who worked full-time, yearround and lived outside of metro 

areas, they were $33,555, or 80.4 

percent of the earnings in metropolitan areas.

In 43 of the 48 states with both 

metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas,6 median earnings were 

higher in metropolitan areas than in 

nonmetropolitan areas.

In four states—Alaska, Massachusetts, Montana, and Nevada—the 

diff erences between median earnings for workers in metropolitan 

and nonmetropolitan areas were 

not statistically signifi cant. Earnings for nonmetropolitan workers 

were lower than earnings for metropolitan workers in Wyoming.

Seven states—Georgia, Illinois, 

Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, 

New York, and Virginia—had 

nonmetropolitan-to-metropolitanearnings ratios below the national 

ratio of 80.4. A total of 35 states 

had nonmetropolitan-tometropolitan-earnings ratios 

above the national ratio.7

Wyoming was among the states 

with the highest ratios of earnings 

for nonmetropolitan workers to 

earnings of metropolitan workers 

at 110.1 percent.8 Virginia—at 71.4 

percent—was the lowest.

SOURCE AND ACCURACY

Data presented in this report are 

based on people and households 

that responded to the ACS in 2009. 

The resulting estimates are representative of the entire population. 

All comparisons presented in this 

report have taken sampling error 

into account and are signifi cant 

at the 90 percent confi dence level 

unless otherwise noted. Due to 

rounding, some details may not 

sum to totals. For information on 

MT

AK

NM

OR MN

KS

SD

ND

MO

WA

FL

NC

IL IN

WI NY

PA

MI

OH

IA

ME

MA

CT 

AZ

NV

TX

CA CO

WY

UT

ID

NE

OK

GA

AR

MS AL

LA

TN

KY

VA

SC

WV

RI 

DE 

MD 

DC 

NJ 

Women’s Earnings as a Percentage of Men’s Earnings in the 

Past 12 Months by State and Puerto Rico: 2009

VT

HI

NH

United States = 78.2 percent

Percentage

80.0 or more

78.1 to 79.9

75.4 to 78.0

Less than 75.4 

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009, Puerto Rico Community Survey, 2009. 

PR

6 New Jersey, Rhode Island, and the 

District of Columbia do not contain any nonmetropolitan areas.

8 The ratio of nonmetropolitan earnings 

to metropolitan earnings in Wyoming was not 

statistically diff erent from the ratio in Nevada.

7 The diff erence between earnings for 

workers in metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan areas was not statistically signifi cant 

from the national average in Delaware, 

Maryland, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, 

Tennessee, or Washington. 
U.S. Census Bureau 3

sampling and estimation methods, 

confi dentiality protection, and 

sampling and nonsampling errors, 

please see the “2009 ACS Accuracy 

of the Data” document located at 

<www.census.gov/acs/www

/Downloads/data_documentation

/Accuracy/ACS_Accuracy_of

_Data_2009.pdf>.

WHAT IS THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY?

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey 

designed to provide communities with reliable and timely demographic, social, economic, and housing data for the nation, states, 

congressional districts, counties, places, and other localities every 

year. It has an annual sample size of about 3 million addresses 

across the United States and Puerto Rico and includes both housing 

units and group quarters (e.g., nursing facilities and prisons). The 

ACS is conducted in every county throughout the nation, and every 

municipio in Puerto Rico, where it is called the Puerto Rico 

Community Survey. Beginning in 2006, ACS data for 2005 were 

released for geographic areas with populations of 65,000 and greater. 

For information on the ACS sample design and other topics, visit 

<www.census.gov/acs/www>.
4 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 1.

Median Earnings in the Past 12 Months of Full-Time, Year-Round Workers 16 and Older 

by Sex and Women’s Earnings as a Percentage of Men’s Earnings by State and Puerto Rico: 

2009

(In 2009 infl ation-adjusted dollars)

Area

Median earnings (dollars) Women’s earnings as a percentMen Women age of men’s earnings

Estimate

Margin of 

error1

 (±) Estimate

Margin of 

error1 (±) Estimate

Margin of 

error1 (±)

 United States . . . . . . . . . . 45,485 128 35,549 79 78.2 0.3

Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,331 481 30,658 499 74.2 1.5

Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,019 1,369 39,017 1,013 76.5 2.9

Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,916 446 34,651 551 82.7 1.6

Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,465 826 28,640 493 78.5 2.2

California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,389 232 40,019 276 82.7 0.7

Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47,983 446 38,058 420 79.3 1.1

Connecticut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59,387 663 43,900 974 73.9 1.8

Delaware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,038 1,287 37,645 1,435 78.4 3.7

District of Columbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61,993 2,965 54,698 3,599 88.2 7.2

Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,122 244 32,109 253 82.1 0.8

Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,667 537 33,665 457 78.9 1.5

Hawaii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,911 2,055 35,977 979 78.4 4.1

Idaho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,440 762 29,122 715 72.0 2.2

Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49,336 323 37,841 281 76.7 0.8

Indiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,631 483 31,762 298 72.8 1.1

Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,634 611 31,431 416 73.7 1.4

Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,494 794 32,341 548 76.1 1.9

Kentucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,748 527 30,481 498 74.8 1.6

Louisiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,174 679 29,350 407 66.4 1.4

Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,156 862 32,314 676 76.7 2.2

Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55,116 866 44,937 709 81.5 1.8

Massachusetts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56,902 923 45,062 627 79.2 1.7

Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,066 350 34,542 410 71.9 1.0

Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,492 313 38,025 379 78.4 0.9

Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,528 780 28,506 627 76.0 2.3

Missouri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,660 442 31,993 334 76.8 1.1

Montana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,830 926 28,461 741 71.5 2.5

Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,516 608 30,562 561 77.3 1.9

Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,425 1,057 35,691 794 82.2 2.7

New Hampshire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,837 726 37,527 950 73.8 2.1

New Jersey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57,738 569 44,166 572 76.5 1.2

New Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,562 950 30,578 734 77.3 2.6

New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49,174 279 40,584 311 82.5 0.8

North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,359 419 32,576 384 80.7 1.3

North Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,693 736 29,742 662 73.1 2.1

Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,563 431 33,616 304 75.4 1.0

Oklahoma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,174 494 29,413 436 75.1 1.5

Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,572 836 34,121 550 76.6 1.9

Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46,747 473 35,301 385 75.5 1.1

Rhode Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49,439 1,025 39,248 1,028 79.4 2.7

South Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,648 518 31,010 386 78.2 1.4

South Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,977 1,263 28,515 555 77.1 3.0

Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,509 356 31,222 379 79.0 1.2

Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,621 291 32,578 267 80.2 0.9

Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,800 1,010 31,186 491 68.1 1.8

Vermont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,234 1,305 35,276 1,439 78.0 3.9

Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,236 466 39,354 363 78.3 1.0

Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,305 498 38,521 483 75.1 1.2

West Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,231 799 27,855 677 69.2 2.2

Wisconsin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,812 401 33,611 382 75.0 1.1

Wyoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47,828 1,270 31,308 1,216 65.5 3.1

Puerto Rico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,906 450 20,563 420 103.3 3.2

1 Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. A margin of error is a measure of an estimate’s variability. The larger the margin of error 

in relation to the size of the estimate, the less reliable the estimate. This number when added to and subtracted from the estimate forms the 90 percent confi dence 

interval.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009, Puerto Rico Community Survey, 2009.
U.S. Census Bureau 5

Table 2. 

Median Earnings in the Past 12 Months of Full-Time, Year-Round Workers 16 and Older by 

Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas by State and Puerto Rico: 2009

(In 2009 infl ation-adjusted dollars)

Area

Median earnings (dollars) Nonmetropolitan areas 

earnings as a percentage of metropolitan 

areas earnings Total In metropolitan areas In nonmetropolitan 

areas

Estimate

Margin of

error1

 (±) Estimate

Margin of 

error1 (±) Estimate

Margin of 

error1 (±) Estimate

Margin of

error1 (±)

 United States . . . . . . . . . . . 40,409 65 41,735 67 33,555 133 80.4 0.3

Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,731 457 38,008 348 32,542 970 85.6 2.7

Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,361 1,659 46,180 2,037 43,930 2,034 95.1 6.1

Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38,573 275 38,801 297 35,184 1,203 90.7 3.2

Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,365 423 34,266 634 29,769 471 86.9 2.1

California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,313 280 44,450 288 38,989 1,526 87.7 3.5

Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,767 442 43,874 482 37,660 789 85.8 2.0

Connecticut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,604 562 52,154 579 47,553 1,750 91.2 3.5

Delaware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,458 1,063 44,701 1,366 36,443 2,159 81.5 5.4

District of Columbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58,782 1,539 58,782 1,539 (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA)

Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,891 248 36,246 252 30,292 711 83.6 2.0

Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38,531 304 39,936 348 30,756 480 77.0 1.4

Hawaii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,461 784 41,898 962 37,402 1,110 89.3 3.4

Idaho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,374 582 37,137 752 32,401 931 87.2 3.1

Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,407 340 45,106 415 34,794 616 77.1 1.5

Indiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38,442 237 39,295 275 34,740 572 88.4 1.6

Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,825 348 39,763 519 35,113 445 88.3 1.6

Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38,157 387 41,367 655 31,544 473 76.3 1.7

Kentucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,854 414 37,914 497 31,938 499 84.2 1.7

Louisiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,040 464 38,035 455 33,256 923 87.4 2.6

Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,777 564 39,231 748 34,972 1,000 89.1 3.1

Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,271 342 50,628 340 42,586 2,054 84.1 4.1

Massachusetts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,596 355 50,610 358 48,368 4,933 95.6 9.8

Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,081 276 42,455 338 35,109 621 82.7 1.6

Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,088 378 46,648 523 36,047 440 77.3 1.3

Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,220 436 35,122 834 30,086 702 85.7 2.9

Missouri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,145 354 39,220 308 29,824 398 76.0 1.2

Montana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33,848 1,035 34,276 1,323 33,503 1,330 97.7 5.4

Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,643 462 38,612 593 31,593 498 81.8 1.8

Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,580 516 39,478 501 40,707 2,057 103.1 5.4

New Hampshire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,014 839 47,119 1,504 40,076 1,029 85.1 3.5

New Jersey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,688 315 50,688 315 (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA)

New Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,003 876 36,829 1,039 31,908 1,133 86.6 3.9

New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,169 327 46,428 342 36,032 700 77.6 1.6

North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,796 355 38,395 356 32,362 389 84.3 1.3

North Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,571 709 36,490 1,092 34,597 889 94.8 3.7

Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,403 217 40,353 298 34,715 534 86.0 1.5

Oklahoma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34,700 434 36,437 563 31,327 613 86.0 2.1

Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,514 429 40,693 571 35,130 907 86.3 2.5

Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,076 229 42,248 249 34,383 533 81.4 1.3

Rhode Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,927 1,133 44,927 1,133 (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA)

South Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,392 523 36,448 564 31,628 650 86.8 2.2

South Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,370 619 33,104 1,040 31,780 703 96.0 3.7

Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,637 341 37,583 310 30,425 473 81.0 1.4

Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,409 218 38,087 182 31,467 341 82.6 1.0

Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,404 408 39,549 464 38,171 1,173 96.5 3.2

Vermont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,319 920 44,538 2,106 38,697 762 86.9 4.4

Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,915 476 47,438 485 33,877 779 71.4 1.8

Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,843 544 47,230 561 37,253 922 78.9 2.2

West Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34,423 689 36,445 1,078 32,163 722 88.3 3.3

Wisconsin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,718 239 41,125 324 35,886 453 87.3 1.3

Wyoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,871 1,449 37,619 1,705 41,417 2,040 110.1 7.4

Puerto Rico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,261 358 20,345 360 18,651 1,143 91.7 5.8

(NA) Not available. 

1

 Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. A margin of error is a measure of an estimate’s variability. The larger the margin of error 

in relation to the size of the estimate, the less reliable the estimate. This number when added to and subtracted from the estimate forms the 90 percent confi dence 

interval.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009, Puerto Rico Community Survey, 2009.