Men Earned More Than Women Even When They Had Bachelor’s Degrees in the Same Field

Even among bachelor’s degree holders in the same field of study, women generally earned significantly less than men in 2022, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

A recently released table package shows that men with a bachelor’s degree or higher earned more than women with the same education in all fields but that the difference in median earnings varied by field of degree (Figure 1).

Generally, fields of degree with a higher share (at least 60%) of women had relatively lower earnings than those with higher share (at least 60%) of men (other than nursing degree holders who earned significantly more than history degree holders).

Figure 1 shows four of the highest and lowest median annual earnings by field of degree in 2022 for men and women ages 25 to 64 with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Men have median annual earnings of $123,800 in electrical engineering, the highest of all fields, while women’s earnings are 85.0% of men’s ($105,200). Another high earning field for women is in computer science ($91,990), but their earnings are 79.6% of men’s ($115,500).

Family and consumer sciences had among the lowest median earnings of all fields of study as well as the greatest differences by sex, with women earning $51,590, 73.2% of men’s median earning of $70,440.

In addition to differences in earnings, the composition of fields of degree also differed by sex (Figure 2).

For example, men held at least 60% of degrees in engineering (general, mechanical, electrical, civil), computer science, finance, economics and history.

Women dominated the education fields (general, elementary and other), psychology, social work, nursing, and family and consumer sciences, holding at least 70% of those degrees.

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