Payscale Inc., a leading provider of compensation data, software, and services, has released its 2025 Gender Pay Gap Report, revealing that despite pay transparency laws, the closing of the gender pay gap has stalled nationwide, with systemic barriers still limiting women’s earning potential.
Payscale’s analysis finds that in 2025, women still earn just 83 cents for every dollar men make. While this is unchanged from last year, according to AAUW, Equal Pay Day shifted back more than two weeks this year, meaning that women must work that much longer to achieve the same earnings as men in 2025, compared to 2024. The controlled gender pay gap also remains the same as last year, at 99 cents. The controlled gender pay gap is the amount that women earn for every dollar that a man earns when accounting for job title and compensable factors, while the uncontrolled gender pay gap is the difference in median pay for men and women overall.
“Even though our 2025 Compensation Best Practices Report showed a minor decrease in support for pay equity, and there has been a weakening of public support around diversity, equity, and inclusion of late, some states have shown promising progress towards closing the gender pay gap,” says Ruth Thomas, pay equity strategist at Payscale. “While not every state has enacted pay transparency laws, which are shown to support pay equity efforts, many organizations are still staunchly committed to the cause. In fact, compared to 2020, there has been a 19% increase in corporate commitment to these efforts.”
Motherhood continues to hurt pay equity, while fathers get a raise as a result of the childbearing penalty. Women with children face a significantly higher pay gap, earning just 75 cents for every dollar fathers make—unchanged from last year. This gap is even wider for women of color, with American Indian and Alaska Native mothers experiencing the largest disparity, earning just 64 cents for every dollar fathers earn.
When controlling for job roles and experience, mothers earn 98 cents for every dollar earned by fathers with similar characteristics. Meanwhile, fatherhood financially benefits men, who earn 2% more than childless men, while mothers face reduced or stagnant pay compared to childless women.
Women seeking new jobs are closing the pay gap, but parenting responsibilities and workplace flexibility keep many stuck with lower wages. The gender pay gap is narrower for women actively seeking a new job in the next six months compared to those not looking, suggesting a willingness to leave positions may lead to higher pay. Yet, this uncontrolled gender pay gap slightly widened this year.
Women who stay in their current job may do so due to benefits they can’t afford to lose, such as flexible work schedules, which can result in tolerating lower pay. Workplace culture, flexibility, and work-life balance may be more important to women than men when deciding to stay with their employer, potentially influencing their pay trajectory.
Despite earning advanced degrees like MBAs, law degrees, and health professional doctorates, women still face a significant pay gap, highlighting that education alone doesn’t guarantee pay equity.
Not only do women earn less as their career progresses, they’re also less likely to reach leadership roles. White men are the most likely to hold leadership positions, with 45% serving as managers or in higher roles. Women are underrepresented in leadership roles, with only 5% of white women becoming executives compared to 7% of white men. The numbers are even lower for women of color: 3% for Hispanic women, 4% for Black women, and 3% for Asian women.
Women who do ascend the corporate ladder earn less than their male counterparts, with the gap widening at higher levels.
While STEM industries show progress toward pay equity, traditional gender norms continue to widen the gap in other sectors. The biggest pay gaps appear in occupations with deeply rooted gender norms, including legal (63 cents), farming and fishing (77 cents), and management (79 cents), where women dominate top-paying positions.
The gender pay gap is also widest in finance and insurance (78 cents) and agencies and consultancies (84 cents), despite women making up 53% and 59% of the workforce in these industries, respectively.
States with and without salary transparency laws have seen improvements in the controlled gender pay gap, likely due in part to increased awareness from transparency efforts in other regions or companies adopting national pay transparency practices.
“It’s disappointing to still see a lack of progress towards closing the gender pay gap. Beyond being the right thing to do, ensuring fair pay without discrimination is required by law. This fact alone should support closing the gender pay gap. Even more, it’s a critical retention tool for businesses, which is why, unsurprisingly, women employees frequently leave organizations because they don’t think they are being paid fairly,” says Lulu Seikaly, senior corporate employment attorney at Payscale. “Pay transparency has an important role to play here, because when an employee has an understanding of their compensation trajectory, it increases trust and loyalty.”
