Gender Wage Gap Calculator

Enter two salaries and this calculator measures the gap between them: the percentage difference, what the lower earner makes per dollar, and how the gap compounds over a career. It benchmarks your result against published national and global figures, with sources, so you can see whether the gap you entered is typical or extreme.

Quick Answer

How the pay gap is calculated

The standard formula is (men’s median – women’s median) / men’s median x 100. Using medians rather than averages keeps a few very high earners from distorting the picture. The per-dollar figure is the same ratio expressed differently: 1 minus the gap. A 15% gap means $0.85 per dollar [2][3].

When the women’s figure is higher, the calculator reports a reverse gap instead of a negative number, so the result always reads naturally.

Worked example, checked against this exact tool

$75,000 and $63,750: the gap is ($75,000 – $63,750) / $75,000 x 100 = 15.00%. Per dollar: $0.850. Annual difference: $11,250. Monthly: $937.50. Weekly: $216.35. Over a 40-year career the difference compounds to $450,000. Enter these values above and the tool returns exactly these figures.

Controlled vs uncontrolled: the distinction that changes everything

The uncontrolled gap compares all full-time medians with no adjustments: about 17% in the US, or 83 cents per dollar [2]. The controlled gap compares men and women in the same job with the same qualifications, and it is much smaller. The uncontrolled number captures the whole system: occupational sorting, hours worked, career breaks, and negotiation differences, not just unequal pay for identical work [3].

Both numbers are real; they answer different questions. Use the uncontrolled gap to talk about the economy, and the controlled gap to talk about a specific employer’s pay practices.

Benchmarks worth knowing

US: about 17% uncontrolled (83 cents median hourly, 2025) [2]. All-workers measures run higher, around 22.5% [3]. Global: roughly 17-20% uncontrolled [5]. Canada: about 12% [5]. Australia: 21.1% [5]. The calculator’s benchmark selector uses these figures so your result lands in context, not in a vacuum.

Why the lifetime number matters most

An annual gap that looks modest becomes enormous over a career. Recent analyses put the median lifetime cost above $1 million over a 40-year career at current gaps, before counting the compounding effects on pensions, savings and wealth [3]. The motherhood penalty, time out of the workforce, and occupational segregation do most of this compounding, which is why the lifetime view belongs in any serious discussion of the gap [4].

What competing calculators miss

Most pay-gap tools compute the percentage and stop. They skip the per-dollar framing people actually quote, they never show the lifetime accumulation, and their benchmarks are uncited or years out of date. This page keeps the full readout, handles the reverse-gap case honestly, and cites current benchmarks from census, labor and international sources.

Frequently asked questions

References