Where Do YOU Stack Up? What Women Earned Last Year By Age
And most importantly, how that compares to men.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, last year the typical American made more than the year before. Not bad considering the economy isn’t where it was a decade ago. At $41,392 a year, that average yearly salary is up a whole 1.7 percent from just last year, which, of course gives us hope for the next year and the years that follow.
At first a median of $41,392 may look promising and even optimistic, but when we break it down, the details aren’t very pretty. Why? Because gender and age are limiting factors for far too many.
While it make a lot of sense that someone in their 20s wouldn’t make as much as someone in their 50s (men 55 to 64 make the most, on average, per year), it doesn’t really allow for much savings. People in their 20s, when free from family obligations and other financial things like homes and cars, are more able to save than they might in their 30s or 40s. But, because of their age, they’re not making the money that would allow for them to live the lifestyle they want and save for the future, retirement especially.
When it comes to women, the stats are equally depressing, but for more depressing reasons.
By the time 2014 came to an end women were earning an average of $37,596 per year, while men were raking in $45,000 per year. But despite this, women have more savings because they’re more likely to invest in programs that prepare them for the future. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in every income bracket under $100,000 a year, women were the ones with the most in savings.
The lesson here is that in being aware of how much our age and gender play a role in what we make annually, we should at least take advantage of what comes naturally to us, (at least according to statistics): Saving money. The economy is no guarantee and the gender pay gap is still looming over us, with women making only 77 cents to every dollar that a man makes, so we should at least try to make lemonade out of the lemons we’ve been handed. Ideally, lemonade that’s a bit spiked, for good measure, to keep us from totally flipping tables over the painful reality of pay inequality.
Here's the full infographic, if you're interested: