The gay wage gap is the pay gap between homosexuals and heterosexuals. In the United States, men in same-sex marriages have a significantly higher median household income than opposite-sex married couples: $123,600 and $96,930, respectively.[1] Individual gay men earn 10% more than straight men with similar education, experience and job profiles,[2][3] and individual gay men who are married have a significantly higher median income than heterosexual married men.[4] Because of the gender pay gap, same-sex female couples make less than heterosexual married couples.[5]
Overall, same-sex married couples in the US have a 27% higher median household income than heterosexual married couples.[6] This difference is due to the higher earnings men make over women.
The economic advantages gay men experience in the US is most striking in poverty rates. Among married households, 2.7% of gay men live in poverty, while 4.2% of opposite-sex married couples live in poverty. Without men's salaries to account for, 5% of same-sex female couples live in poverty.[5]
US Census data has found that the wage advantages same-gender couples have over different-gender couples—being dual earners, having higher education and living in urban areas—did not benefit same-gender female couples in the way way they did male couples.[7]
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