Key Finding: Median earnings increased for both men and women in Allegheny County between 2009 and 2024. During that time, the earnings gap between men and women became somewhat smaller when measured as a percentage. The percentage difference fell from 36.9% in 2009 to 32.3% in 2024.
What the Data Shows: In 2024, median earnings were estimated at $58,551 for men and $42,264 for women age 16 and older who had earnings. In 2009, median earnings were $35,467 for men and $24,412 for women.
The dollar difference between men’s and women’s earnings increased from $11,055 in 2009 to $16,287 in 2024. However, because women’s earnings grew somewhat faster than men’s over this period, the percentage gap became smaller.
Another way to look at it is this: in 2009, women’s median earnings were about 69% of men’s. By 2024, women’s median earnings had risen to about 72% of men’s.
Analysis: The earnings gap between men and women in Allegheny County has narrowed somewhat, but it has not disappeared. Women’s median earnings grew faster than men’s during this period, which reduced the percentage difference between the two groups. Still, in 2024, women’s median earnings were more than $16,000 below men’s median earnings.
The data therefore show progress toward a smaller earnings gap, but not equal earnings.
Method: This brief uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, or ACS. The data come from ACS table B20017, which reports median earnings for men and women age 16 and older who had earnings. We use five-year ACS estimates beginning with 2005–2009, which we label as 2009, and ending with 2020–2024, which we label as 2024.
To compare the earnings of men and women, we calculate the size of the gap as a percentage of the average earnings of the two groups. This approach treats both groups equally rather than using either men or women as the starting point for the comparison.
The shaded areas in the chart show the Census Bureau’s published margin of error. These bands remind us that survey estimates are not exact numbers and include some uncertainty.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2009–2024, Table B20017.
Download the Data: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey: https://data.census.gov/
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