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 

by State: 2008 American 

Community Survey

American Community Survey Reports

By 

Jessica Semega

ACSBR/08-3

Issued September 2009

Introduction

This report is one of a series produced 

to highlight results from the 2008 

American Community Survey (ACS). The 

report series is designed to cover a variety of economic topics, such as poverty, 

occupation, home values, and labor 

force participation. This series provides information about the changing 

economic characteristics of the nation 

and states, the District of Columbia, 

and Puerto Rico. The ACS also provides 

detailed estimates of demographic, 

social, economic, and housing characteristics for congressional districts, 

counties, places, and other localities 

every year. A description of the ACS is 

provided in the text box “What Is the 

American Community Survey?” 

This report presents data on men’s and 

women’s earnings at the national and 

state levels based on the 2008 ACS. 

“Earnings” are the sum of wage and 

salary income and self-employment 

income. Earnings are often the largest 

part of overall income. The 2008 ACS 

showed that 81 percent of aggregate 

income came from earnings. Estimates 

are restricted to full-time, year-round 

workers 16 years or older, unless noted 

otherwise in this report. “Year-round” 

means an individual worked 50 or more 

weeks in the past 12 months, including 

paid time off for sick leave or vacation. 

“Full-time” means that the individual 

usually worked 35 or more hours 

per week. 

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 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. 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. In 

2008, the first set of multiyear estimates 

was released for data collected between 

January 2005 and December 2007. 

These 3-year estimates were published 

for geographic areas with populations 

of 20,000 and greater. The U.S. Census 

Bureau is planning to release the first 

5-year estimates in late 2010 for the 

smallest geographic areas based on data 

collected between January 2005 and 

December 2009.

The data contained in this report are 

based on the ACS sample interviewed 

in 2008. For information on the ACS 

sample design and other topics, visit 

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

In the 2008 ACS, information on 

income was collected between 

January and December 2008, and 

people were asked about income 

for the previous 12 months (the 

income reference period), yielding 

a total income time span covering 23 months (January 2007 to 

November 2008).1 The Census 

Bureau recommends using caution 

when making labor force data comparisons from 2008 or later with 

data from prior years. The Census 

Bureau introduced an improved 

sequence of labor force questions 

in the 2008 ACS questionnaire. 

1 All income data are inflation-adjusted to 

2008 dollars.

This impacted the number of fulltime, year-round workers.2

The data contained in this report 

are based on an ACS sample that 

was selected for interview in 2008 

and are estimates of the actual figures that could have been obtained 

by interviewing the entire population using the same methodology. 

All comparisons presented in this 

report have taken sampling error 

into account and are significant 

at the 90 percent confidence level 

2 For more information on these questions 

and their evaluation in the 2006 ACS Content 

Test, see the “Evaluation Report Covering 

Employment Status” at <www.census.gov

/acs/www/AdvMeth/content_test/P6a

_Employment_Status.pdf> and the “Evaluation 

Report Covering Weeks Worked” at <www

.census.gov/acs/www/AdvMeth/content

_test/P6b_Weeks_Worked_Final_Report.pdf>. 

Additional information also can be found at 

<www.census.gov/hhes/www/laborfor

/laborforce.html>. 

unless noted otherwise. Due to 

rounding, some details may not 

sum to totals. For information on 

sampling and estimation methods, 

confidentiality protection, and 

sampling and nonsampling errors, 

please see the “2008 ACS Accuracy 

of the Data” document located at 

<www.census.gov/acs/www

/Downloads/ACS/accuracy2008

.pdf>. 

Earnings of Men and 

Women

The 2008 ACS median earnings 

of men in the United States who 

worked full-time, year-round were 

$45,556. For women, the median 

earnings were $35,471, or 77.9 

percent of men’s earnings.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2008; and Puerto Rico Community Survey, 2008.

* DC is represented at 4.5 times the scale of other continental states.

MT

AK

NM

OR MN

KS

SD

ND

MO

WA

FL

IL IN

WI NY

PA

MI

OH

IA

ME

MA 

CT 

AZ

NV

TX

CA CO

WY

UT

ID

NE

OK

GA

AR

AL

NC

MS

LA

TN

KY

VA

SC

WV

RI 

DE 

MD 

NJ 

HI

VT NH

PR

DC *

United States

= 77.9 percent

80.0 or more

75.4 to 77.9

Less than 75.4 percent

78.0 to 79.9

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

Past 12 Months by State and Puerto Rico: 2008 

 

Percentage
U.S. Census Bureau 3

In each of the 50 states and the 

District of Columbia, women’s 

median earnings were less than 

men’s median earnings. 

Connecticut, New Jersey, 

Massachusetts, Maryland, New 

Hampshire, Alaska, Washington, 

and the District of Columbia had 

median earnings for men above 

$50,000.3 No state had median 

earnings for women above 

$50,000, but in the District of 

Columbia there was no significant 

3 The median earnings for men in Virginia, 

Illinois, Rhode Island, and Wyoming were not 

statistically different from $50,000. 

difference between women’s 

earnings and $50,000.

Nine states—California, Arizona, 

Maryland, New York, Vermont, 

Georgia, Hawaii, Florida, and 

North Carolina—and the District of 

Columbia all had women’s-to-men’s 

earnings ratios higher than the 

national ratio, 77.9.4

Women’s earnings as a percentage 

of men’s earnings in California, 

4 The ratio of women’s earnings to men’s 

earnings was highest at 101.1 percent for 

Puerto Rico. The ratio of women’s earnings to 

men’s earnings for the District of Columbia 

was not statistically different from those for 

California, Arizona, Maryland, New York, 

Vermont, Georgia, and Hawaii.

Arizona, Maryland, New York, 

Vermont, Georgia, Hawaii, and the 

District of Columbia were in the 

highest category—80.0 percent or 

more.

The District of Columbia had the 

highest ratio of women’s-to-men’s 

earnings (88.0 percent) while 

Wyoming had the lowest ratio at 

64.3 percent.5

5 The ratio of women’s earnings to men’s 

earnings for the District of Columbia was 

not statistically different from those for 

California, Arizona, Maryland, New York, 

Vermont, Georgia, and Hawaii. The ratio 

of women’s earnings to men’s earnings for 

Wyoming was not statistically different from 

those for Louisiana and West Virginia. 
4 U.S. Census Bureau

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

Older by Sex and Women’s Earnings as a Percentage of Men’s Earnings by State and 

Puerto Rico: 2008 

(In 2008 infl ation-adjusted dollars. For information on confi dentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and defi nitions, see

www.census.gov/acs/www)

Area

Median earnings

(dollars)

Women’s earnings as a 

percentage of men’s

Men Women earnings

Estimate

Margin of 

error1

 (±) Estimate

Margin of 

error1 (±) Estimate

Margin of 

error1 (±)

 United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,556 73 35,471 58 77.9 0.2

Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,411 378 30,681 359 74.1 1.1

Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,500 1,091 37,861 1,836 73.5 3.9

Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,524 414 34,556 558 83.2 1.6

Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,839 522 27,487 611 74.6 2.0

California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47,758 415 40,521 181 84.9 0.8

Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47,270 549 36,618 360 77.5 1.2

Connecticut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58,838 1,630 44,625 620 75.9 2.4

Delaware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46,898 1,107 37,049 1,072 79.0 2.9

District of Columbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57,393 4,725 50,519 1,325 88.0 7.6

Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,672 195 32,506 310 79.9 0.9

Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,391 344 34,513 531 81.4 1.4

Hawaii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,577 956 36,709 662 80.5 2.2

Idaho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,461 621 29,730 863 71.7 2.3

Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,022 365 36,968 257 73.9 0.8

Indiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,906 597 31,935 297 71.1 1.2

Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,677 317 31,903 303 76.5 0.9

Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,346 1,000 32,066 409 74.0 1.9

Kentucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,977 312 31,089 333 75.9 1.0

Louisiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,326 1,071 29,147 661 67.3 2.3

Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,908 503 32,613 721 79.7 2.0

Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53,189 943 44,188 644 83.0 1.9

Massachusetts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55,555 675 43,452 593 78.2 1.4

Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,720 660 35,260 303 72.4 1.2

Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,637 618 37,281 276 76.7 1.1

Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,436 963 27,697 676 74.0 2.6

Missouri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,106 305 31,820 246 75.6 0.8

Montana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38,440 1,823 29,634 1,001 77.1 4.5

Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,860 474 30,885 312 75.6 1.2

Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,178 928 34,724 759 76.9 2.3

New Hampshire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,655 699 36,946 755 71.5 1.8

New Jersey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55,980 631 44,343 666 79.2 1.5

New Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,359 605 30,623 674 75.9 2.0

New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,882 567 40,490 241 82.8 1.1

North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,875 297 32,397 254 79.3 0.8

North Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,249 716 29,589 834 71.7 2.4

Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,214 334 33,628 334 74.4 0.9

Oklahoma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,860 664 30,123 341 75.6 1.5

Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,226 935 33,959 646 78.6 2.3

Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46,455 250 35,265 227 75.9 0.6

Rhode Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49,265 1,740 36,536 1,075 74.2 3.4

South Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,998 321 31,063 349 75.8 1.0

South Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,493 1,384 28,431 899 75.8 3.7

Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,458 347 31,091 228 76.8 0.9

Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,539 174 32,530 314 78.3 0.8

Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,028 718 31,183 448 69.3 1.5

Vermont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,778 544 34,424 1,509 82.4 3.8

Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,203 250 37,859 560 75.4 1.2

Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,272 285 37,932 635 74.0 1.3

West Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,941 671 27,472 754 67.1 2.1

Wisconsin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,266 361 33,640 445 74.3 1.1

Wyoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,555 1,831 31,204 839 64.3 3.0

Puerto Rico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,942 357 20,165 429 101.1 2.8

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. When added to and subtracted from the estimate, the margin of error forms the 90 percent 

confi dence interval.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2008; and Puerto Rico Community Survey, 2008.