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News

Men’s and Women’s Salaries, by Field and Highest Degree, 2013

Almanac 2018 August 19, 2018

Women’s annual salaries were the closest to men’s in the field of education, excluding math and science education, and farthest apart among those with bachelor’s degrees in the physical sciences. The higher the degree obtained, the smaller the gender disparity in pay. Nevertheless, female doctorate recipients, over all, earned 75 percent of what their male counterparts did in 2013. Women with doctorates earned $5,000 more a year than did men with only bachelor’s degrees, but $9,000 less than men with only master’s degrees. Female doctorate recipients in the arts and humanities came closest to matching their male counterparts’ salaries. That field also yielded the lowest salaries earned by any doctorate recipients.

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Women’s annual salaries were the closest to men’s in the field of education, excluding math and science education, and farthest apart among those with bachelor’s degrees in the physical sciences. The higher the degree obtained, the smaller the gender disparity in pay. Nevertheless, female doctorate recipients, over all, earned 75 percent of what their male counterparts did in 2013. Women with doctorates earned $5,000 more a year than did men with only bachelor’s degrees, but $9,000 less than men with only master’s degrees. Female doctorate recipients in the arts and humanities came closest to matching their male counterparts’ salaries. That field also yielded the lowest salaries earned by any doctorate recipients.


Return to the Almanac home page, or go to the Profession, Students, Finance, or States section. To purchase a copy of the Almanac in print or as a downloadable interactive PDF, visit the Chronicle Store. Help guide us to give you the data you need by taking our 10-minute online Almanac survey.


Bachelor’s degree

FieldMale
degree
recipients
Female
degree
recipients
Female share
of degree
recipients
Men’s
median
salary
Women’s
median
salary
Women’s
salary as a
% of men’s
Life sciences 712,000 657,000 48.0% $52,000 $40,000 76.9%
Physical sciences 281,000 138,000 32.9% $68,000 $40,000 58.8%
Mathematics and computer science 1,051,000 450,000 30.0% $80,000 $54,000 67.5%
Psychology and social sciences 1,687,000 1,958,000 53.7% $56,000 $38,000 67.9%
Engineering 1,724,000 275,000 13.8% $86,000 $70,000 81.4%
Health 404,000 1,734,000 81.1% $67,000 $55,000 82.1%
Science and math teacher education 89,000 93,000 51.1% $51,000 $36,000 70.6%
Other teacher education 72,000 117,000 61.9% $43,000 $40,000 93.0%
Management/administration 357,000 210,000 37.0% $75,000 $50,000 66.7%
Arts and humanities 223,000 176,000 44.1% $56,000 $44,000 78.6%
All fields 7,275,000 6,156,000 45.8% $70,000 $47,000 67.1%

Master’s degree

FieldMale
degree
recipients
Female
degree
recipients
Female share
of degree
recipients
Men’s
median
salary
Women’s
median
salary
Women’s
salary as a
% of men’s
Life sciences 121,000 153,000 55.8% $65,000 $50,000 76.9%
Physical sciences 96,000 49,000 33.8% $75,000 $58,000 77.3%
Mathematics and computer science 442,000 184,000 29.4% $100,000 $75,000 75.0%
Psychology and social sciences 316,000 542,000 63.2% $65,000 $45,000 69.2%
Engineering 569,000 124,000 17.9% $100,000 $87,000 87.0%
Health 199,000 809,000 80.3% $83,000 $65,000 78.3%
Science and math teacher education 74,000 134,000 64.4% $56,000 $50,000 89.3%
Other teacher education 291,000 619,000 68.0% $54,000 $50,000 92.6%
Management/administration 814,000 366,000 31.0% $103,000 $84,000 81.6%
Arts and humanities 73,000 70,000 49.0% $59,000 $45,000 76.3%
All fields 3,381,000 3,501,000 50.9% $84,000 $58,000 69.0%

Doctoral degree

FieldMale
degree
recipients
Female
degree
recipients
Female share
of degree
recipients
Men’s
median
salary
Women’s
median
salary
Women’s
salary as a
% of men’s
Life sciences 153,000 101,000 39.8% $94,000 $70,000 74.5%
Physical sciences 135,000 32,000 19.2% $104,000 $80,000 76.9%
Mathematics and computer science 55,000 15,000 21.4% $105,000 $90,000 85.7%
Psychology and social sciences 111,000 106,000 48.8% $91,000 $72,000 79.1%
Engineering 143,000 23,000 13.9% $117,000 $100,000 85.5%
Health 29,000 41,000 58.6% $109,000 $80,000 73.4%
Science and math teacher education 3,000 9,000 75.0% n/a $72,000 n/a
Other teacher education 31,000 42,000 57.5% $78,000 $68,000 87.2%
Management/administration 16,000 6,000 27.3% $102,000 n/a n/a
Arts and humanities 17,000 10,000 37.0% $65,000 $62,000 95.4%
All fields 741,000 413,000 35.8% $100,000 $75,000 75.0%

All degrees

FieldMale
degree
recipients
Female
degree
recipients
Female share
of degree
recipients
Men’s
median
salary
Women’s
median
salary
Women’s
salary as a
% of men’s
Life sciences 985,000 910,000 48.0% $60,000 $45,000 75.0%
Physical sciences 512,000 218,000 29.9% $78,000 $50,000 64.1%
Mathematics and computer science 1,548,000 648,000 29.5% $86,000 $60,000 69.8%
Psychology and social sciences 2,124,000 2,639,000 55.4% $60,000 $40,000 66.7%
Engineering 2,437,000 422,000 14.8% $90,000 $75,000 83.3%
Health 1,465,000 3,078,000 67.8% $100,000 $60,000 60.0%
Science and math teacher education 167,000 237,000 58.7% $53,000 $42,000 79.2%
Other teacher education 394,000 778,000 66.4% $53,000 $50,000 94.3%
Management/administration 1,187,000 582,000 32.9% $95,000 $72,000 75.8%
Arts and humanities 313,000 257,000 45.1% $58,000 $45,000 77.6%
All fields 12,693,000 10,865,000 46.1% $80,000 $53,000 66.3%

Note: Data cover individuals in the United States and its territories who were less than 76 years old on February 1, 2013, and who earned bachelor’s degrees or higher in science and engineering fields, and in some non-science and -engineering fields, like the humanities, before January 1, 2012. A sample size of 115,152 was relied upon to represent a population of 28,950,000. The total numbers of men and women surpass the components because some smaller fields are not listed separately. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000. Salary responses were considered even if the annual salary was provided for less than 12 months. Data are the most current available and are from the survey cycle 2013, as of February 24, 2015. The abbreviation “n/a” indicates that information was suppressed because of reliability considerations. More data are can be found here. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.

Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System</small></p>

A version of this article appeared in the August 24, 2018, issue.
Read other items in Students: Almanac 2018.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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