Wage Gap in 2023:   

  • Women working full time, year-round were paid just 83 cents for every dollar paid to men in 2023, down from 84 cents in the previous year. This calculation compares women of all races/ethnicities and men of all races/ethnicities. This marks the first statistically significant widening of the wage gap in twenty years, since 2003. This backslide was even more severe for Black women compared to white, non-Hispanic men.  
  • The wage gap for full-time, year-round workers was even worse for some women by race/ethnicity:  
    • Black women working full time, year-round were paid just 66 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men, down from 69 cents in 2022.  
    • Latina women working full time, year-round were paid just 58 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.  
    • Native women working full time, year-round were paid just 58 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.
    • White, non-Hispanic women working full time, year-round were paid just 80 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.  
  • When part-time and part-year workers are included, the wage gap is even larger, with women being paid just 75 cents for every dollar paid to men in 2023, down from 78 cents in 2022. Again, this calculation compares women of all races/ethnicities to men of all races/ethnicities. 
  • The wage gap among all working women and men, including part-time and part-year workers, was even worse for some women by race/ethnicity in 2023:  
    • Including part-time and part-year workers, Black women were paid just 64 cents for every dollar paid to working white, non-Hispanic men, compared to 66 cents in 2022.  
    • Including part-time and part-year workers, Latinas were paid 51 cents for every dollar paid to working white, non-Hispanic men, compared to 52 cents in 2022.  
    • Including part-time and part-year workers, Native women were paid 52 cents for every dollar paid to working white, non-Hispanic men, compared to 55 cents in 2022. 
    • Including part-time and part-year workers, white, non-Hispanic women were paid just 73 cents for every dollar paid to working white, non-Hispanic men, compared to 74 cents in 2022.  

*** The wage gaps for Native women were calculated using the American Community Survey 1-year data. The wage gaps for all other groups were calculated using the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) data from the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Poverty in 2023:   

  • Using the Census Bureau’s supplemental poverty measure (SPM): 
    • 13.4 percent of women and girls lived in poverty as measured by the supplemental poverty measure (SPM), up from 12.8 percent in 2022 when many pandemic-era relief programs expired. In comparison, 7.9 percent of women and girls lived in poverty in 2021, a record low thanks to the investments in the expanded child tax credit, pandemic unemployment assistance, enhanced subsidies to allow more low-income individuals to purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, and other pandemic relief programs. 
    • The SPM poverty rate for children increased from 12.4% in 2022 to 13.7% in 2023 by 1.3%.  
  • Using the Census Bureau’s official poverty measure (OPM): 
    • 11.9 percent of women and girls lived in poverty as measured by the official poverty measure (OPM) in 2022, down from 12.5 percent in 2022 and 12.6 percent in 2021.  
    • Over 14 million women 18 and older, or more than 1 in 10 women, lived in poverty in 2023, compared to over 11 million men 18 and older, or more than 1 in 12 men. 
    • Poverty rates were worse for many women of color: 16.8 percent of Black women, 16.3 percent of Latina women, and 20.4 percent of Native women were in poverty last year as compared to 6.8 percent of white, non-Hispanic men. 
    • Over 11 million children, or more than 1 in 7, lived in poverty in 2023.   
    • Poverty rates were worse for many children of color: 25.0 percent of Black children, 22.5 percent of Latinx children, and 26.7 percent of Native children were in poverty last year.  
    • Nearly 1 in 3 families headed by single women with children were poor in 2023.  
    • Over half of poor children lived in a household headed by women last year.  
    • Women made up nearly 3 in 5 seniors who lived in poverty last year, with the poverty rate for senior women at 10.5 percent.   
  • In 2023, critical programs and benefits kept millions of people out of poverty: 
    • Unemployment insurance lifted 0.3 million people out of poverty, which is significantly fewer than the 2.3 million it lifted out of poverty in 2021. 
    • Refundable tax credits lifted 6.4 million people out of poverty, which is significantly fewer than the 9.6 million they lifted out of poverty in 2021. 
      • Unemployment insurance, the Child Tax Credit, and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit were significantly expanded under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) enacted in 2021, but these expansions had expired by the end of 2021. 
    • Housing subsidies lifted 2.8 million people out of poverty, compared to 2.4 million in 2021.
    • The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, kept 3.4 million people above the poverty line, compared to 2.8 million in 2021.
    • Social Security lifted 27.6 million people above the poverty line, compared to 26.3 million in 2021. 

*** The official poverty measure (OPM) reported by the Census Bureau measures the percentage of the U.S. population with total income below the federal poverty threshold for their family size. “Income” is calculated before taxes and includes only cash income, such as earnings, pension and retirement income, investment income, Social Security, public assistance (cash), unemployment benefits, workers’ compensation, veterans’ payments, and alimony and child support payments. 

*** The supplemental poverty measure (SPM) extends the official poverty measure partly by incorporating the value of several federal and state benefits that help support low-income families but are not counted as income under the official poverty measure (e.g. SNAP benefits, Earned Income Tax Credit, and the refundable portion of Child Tax Credit and the Child and Dependent Care Credit), minus nondiscretionary expenses (e.g., taxes, work, and medical expenses). 

***Note that the U.S. Census Bureau adjusts the SPM threshold annually to account for changes in inflation. The inflation index used for the SPM puts substantially more weight on housing than does the more commonly used CPI-U. In 2023, the cost of housing rose much faster than other items, significantly lifting up the SPM threshold. In comparison, “anchored” measures of SPM adjusted only for inflation show little change in poverty between 2022 and 2023. 

*** The poverty rates for Native women were calculated using the American Community Survey 1-year data. The poverty rates for all other groups were calculated using the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) data from the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Health Insurance Coverage in 2023:   

  • 93.0 percent of women and girls had some form of health insurance coverage in 2023. Over 11.7 million women and girls remained uninsured. 
  • The share of women and girls without health insurance coverage declined from 12.3% in 2013 (before the Affordable Care Act fully took effect) to 7.0% in 2023, similar to 6.8% in 2022, a historic low. 
  • One in 10 women of reproductive age (19-54) were uninsured in 2023, meaning nearly 8 million women in this age group had no coverage last year. 
  • Uninsurance rates varied significantly by race/ethnicity, underscoring the importance of policies that address the specific barriers Latinas and Black women face when seeking health insurance coverage: 
    • Latina women and girls (15.0 percent uninsured) were over 3 times more likely than white, non-Hispanic women and girls (4.5 percent uninsured) to be without insurance in 2023.  
    • 6.9 percent of Black women and girls were uninsured in 2023, along with 4.8 percent of Asian women and girls. 

***The Census Bureau only counts individuals as uninsured in 2023 if they did not have insurance for all 12 months. This means some people may have been without health insurance for part of the year, and they are not counted among the uninsured. As a result, uninsurance rates for 2023 may be underestimated. 

***The Census Bureau health insurance data is not available before 1999 and all historical comparisons are from 1999 to 2023.