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Equal Pay Day Report - Employment Standards Service (ESS)

Executive Summary

Each year, in the United States, Equal Pay Day symbolizes how far into the following year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. It is an opportunity to examine and reflect upon the gender wage gap, its causes, and its impacts. Families depend on women’s earnings now more than ever; both in Maryland and nationwide, more than 40 percent of mothers are the primary or sole wage earner in their households. Even so, full-time working women continue to be paid less than their male counterparts.

In 2024, the Maryland Department of Labor released a comprehensive report examining gender and racial wage disparities across the state, covering a five-year period 2018–2022. That report found that women working full-time, year-round in Maryland were typically paid 86 cents for every dollar earned by men—a smaller wage gap than in most states, but still a persistent barrier to economic equity.

Our 2026 report builds on the 2024 analysis by providing updated data on women’s earnings in Maryland, including new estimates of the gender wage gap and updated information across the state’s local workforce development areas. This update will help policymakers, advocates, and the public to track progress and understand where gaps remain.

View Equal Pay Day Report

The updated data show that over a five-year period from 2020 to 2024, Maryland has the fifth smallest wage gap in the country. Women who work full-time, year-round in Maryland are typically paid only 87 cents for every dollar their male counterparts make. Women of every race and ethnicity are paid less than white, non-Hispanic men, at all education levels, and much broader disparities exist for some groups.

Across the board, in all groups except for Asian American women, the wage gap slightly increased from our prior report to this one.

In Maryland, for every dollar a white, non-Hispanic man makes:

  • Hispanic women or Latinas are paid 49 cents – a wage gap of 51 cents;
  • American Indian and Alaska Native women are paid 47 cents – a wage gap of 53 cents;
  • Black or African American women are paid 68 cents – a wage gap of 32 cents;
  • White women are paid 80 cents – a wage gap of 20 cents; and
  • Asian women are paid 87 cents – a wage gap of 13 cents.

Compared with other states, the wage gap for Hispanic women or Latinas in Maryland is the 4th largest nationwide, while the wage gap for Black or African American women is the 9th smallest nationwide. While Black or African American women in Maryland experience smaller per dollar disparities than they do nationally and in several other states, they are still only paid a fraction of what white, non-Hispanic men are paid.

That said, Maryland has many high-wage jobs. This means women tend to be paid more in Maryland than in many other regions of the country, but it also means that wage gaps translate to significant income and wealth gaps over time.

Median earnings for full-time women workers in Maryland are $70,211. This is the third highest level in the nation, but over $25,000 less than the median earnings for white, non-Hispanic men ($95,404). Calculated over a career, this leads to some of the largest lifetime earnings gaps in the nation.

Compared to white, non-Hispanic men, in Maryland:

  • The lifetime wage gap for Hispanic women or Latinas is over $1.9 million – the 4th highest gap, when compared to other states.
  • The lifetime wage gap for American Indian and Alaska Native women is over $2 million – the 6th highest gap.
  • The lifetime wage gap for Black or African American women is over $1.2 million – the 16th highest gap.
  • The lifetime wage gap for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women is over $1.0 million – the 22nd highest gap.
  • The lifetime wage gap for white women is over $760,000 – the 9th highest lifetime.
  • The lifetime wage gap for Asian women is over $490,000 – the 29th highest gap.

This report also provides information about gender wage gaps in Maryland’s 24 counties. The size of the overall gender pay gap varies from county to county, based on a number of factors including demographic characteristics and industry concentrations. Since Black and Latino men, in particular, also experience a wage gap when compared with white women, counties with higher percentage populations in these groups tend to see smaller differences between men and women as a whole.

While this report includes data from 2020 to 2024, it is critical to note that Maryland’s labor market has undergone significant change since early 2025. The state has one of the highest shares of workers employed by the federal government in the nation. Recent reductions in the federal workforce are likely to have ripple effects across Maryland’s economy and labor market. Women represent a slightly over half of the federal workforce and federal jobs have historically offered relatively strong pay equity. Shifts in federal employment could have implications for gender wage gaps in the state. At this time, the magnitude and distribution of these impacts cannot yet be quantified. Future updates to this report will explore these trends.

The Moore-Miller Administration has focused on work, wages, and wealth—and closing wage gaps addresses all three. There are many causes of the gender wage gap, including occupational crowding, pay secrecy, gendered caregiving responsibilities, and the lack of quality, affordable child care, which impact the job opportunities available to women.

Addressing pay gaps—of all types—requires systematic efforts to address these issues. Policies like responsible procurement, paid leave, pay range transparency, and investments in child care and care workers can help to close gender wage gaps, as can support for collective bargaining and greater unionization, as well as strategic investments in workforce training and education. Maryland’s expansion of wage transparency requirements under the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act reflects this approach, and early data show strong and growing engagement from workers and employers seeking to understand and implement these standards.

The Department hopes that publishing this report will guide policy development and resource deployment in a way that supports gender equity and benefits all workers, leading to a more competitive, inclusive, and robust state economy.