Personal finance
Gender pay gap calculator
The gap is usually quoted as a single percentage. This shows it in dollars for your occupation. And what it compounds to over a career.
The pay gap is easy to wave away as a statistic. In dollars, over a career, it isn't. This shows the male/female median gap for your occupation, where your own salary falls against the relevant median, and, the part that lands hardest, what that annual gap grows to if the difference had been invested over your remaining career.
Pick your occupation and salary.
Worked example
Physicians and surgeons, one of the widest gaps of any occupation, for a woman earning the female median, 25 years left:
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Median gap (men vs women) | $67,000 |
| Women earn less by | 24.4% |
| Lifetime cost of the gap (plain sum) | $1,675,000 |
| Lifetime cost if invested (at 7%) | $4,522,900 |
A $67,000 annual gap, 24.4%, is $1,675,000 across 25 years in plain dollars, and $4,522,900 if that difference had been invested. The compounding is the real story: an annual gap becomes a retirement-sized number.
Questions
Where do the occupation figures come from?
They're reference medians for each occupation in the style of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, illustrative, not a live feed. They describe typical pay for the field, not your pay, which you enter yourself.
Does the gap mean equal work is paid unequally?
Part of a raw gap reflects differences in role, specialty, hours and time out of the workforce; part remains after those are accounted for. This shows the raw median difference, the starting point, not the whole explanation.
What can I do with this?
Use it as leverage: knowing the median for your occupation and where you sit is the groundwork for a negotiation. The lifetime figure is why closing even a small gap early is worth the harder conversation now.
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Occupation medians are approximate reference data, not a statement about individual pay. Not financial advice.