New AAUW Data Shows Gender Pay Gap in Every Congressional District Ahead of Equal Pay Day

District-level data reveals persistent pay gaps nationwide and highlights the lasting economic costs for women, families, and communities. 

Washington, D.C. — In advance of Equal Pay Day (March 26), AAUW has released new data to show the gender pay gap in every state and congressional district across the country. In AAUW’s updated report, The (Not So) Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap, new analysis makes clear that pay inequity is not abstract — it affects women’s earnings in communities nationwide and costs women, families, and the economy. 

Women who work full-time in the United States earn just 81 cents for every dollar earned by men, leading to an estimated $542,800 in lost earnings over a 40-year career. While the size of the gap varies by location, women earn less than men in nearly every congressional district. Over time, those losses make it harder for women to pay bills, build wealth, support families, save for retirement, and achieve economic security. For many women of color, mothers, LGBTQ+ women, and women with disabilities, the gaps are even wider. 

“The gender pay gap is not abstract — it is costing women money in every congressional district in America,” said Gloria L. Blackwell, CEO of AAUW. “When women are paid less, families have less to spend, save, and build, and our economy is weaker for it.” 

AAUW’s research shows that the pay gap is driven by a combination of factors, including occupational segregation, unequal access to high-quality jobs, caregiving responsibilities, and persistent discrimination. The report also highlights the role education plays in women’s economic mobility. Women with higher levels of education generally earn more over their lifetimes, yet pay gaps remain even among college graduates and those with advanced degrees. 

The report arrives just days after the Department of Education’s public comment period on a proposed rule that would end Grad PLUS for new borrowers and cap graduate and professional student borrowing beginning July 1, 2026. This move potentially narrows access to the advanced degrees that help raise women’s earnings. It also comes after the EEOC’s January 22 vote to rescind its 2024 workplace harassment guidance, a change AAUW said would make workplace rights harder to navigate and enforce. These decisions do not exist in isolation: they reflect a broader political moment in which the policies that shape women’s access to education, advancement, and economic security are being contested in real time. 

“The data shows that women’s economic security depends on more than individual choices — it depends on policy choices,” Blackwell said. “If we want to close the pay gap, we need to protect pathways to education, enforce fair pay and anti-discrimination laws, and remove the barriers that keep too many women from being paid what they deserve.” 

Equal Pay Day is a symbolic marker used to illustrate the gender pay gap and the reality that women, on average, are paid less than men. Additional Equal Pay Days throughout the year highlight the even deeper inequities experienced by many communities of women, including Black women, Latina women, Native women, and others. 

Read The (Not So) Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap here.

Explore pay gap data for your state and congressional district.

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AAUW (American Association of University Women) is one of the nation’s leading organizations for equity in higher education and women’s economic empowerment. Founded in 1881 by women who defied society’s conventions by earning college degrees, AAUW has since worked to increase women’s access, opportunity, and equity in higher education through research, advocacy, and philanthropy of over $146 million, supporting thousands of women scholars. Learn more at aauw.org.