Utah’s huge gender pay gap isn’t closing.
That’s among the findings of a recently released report by the Utah Women & Leadership Project at Utah State University. Utah women working full-time, year-round jobs earn about 27 percent less than men, the worst pay gap in the U.S.
The report indicates that Utah had the 47th-worst gender pay gap in 2017 and 49th-worst in 2021. Utah was next-to-last (No. 50 among 51 locations) in a 2024 ranking by the National Women’s Law Center, ahead of only Louisiana and just below Alabama and Wyoming.
The most recent report indicates that among all workers, including part-time and seasonal employees, Utah women earn just 61 cents for every dollar paid to men, compared to 75 cents for every dollar nationally. For full-time, year-round workers, Utah women earned 73 cents to every dollar earned by men, compared to 82.7 cents nationally.
“The majority of Utahns agree that the gender pay gap exists,” said Susan Madsen, founder of the UWLP and co-author of the report. “Furthermore, 82.6 percent of the 2024 sample agreed on some level that Utah leaders should take action to close the gender pay gap.”
Utah has the worst lifetime pay gap in the nation, with a loss of $755,120 for a woman over her 40-year career compared to a man. That equates to an average Utah woman needing to work until age 75 to earn what a Utah man makes by age 60.
Those stats are in spite of Utah women participating in the workforce at rates above the national average, and women-owned businesses in Salt Lake City growing 26 percent between 2022 and 2023, compared to 17 percent nationally.
The gender pay gap in Utah is driven by occupational segregation, underrepresentation in higher-wage male-dominated roles, part-time employment and cultural expectations around family and caregiving, as well as limited access to child care and the influence of social and religious norms, the report notes.
The UWLP calls for both policy and cultural change to close the gender pay gap in the state, including family-friendly workplace policies, such as paid family and medical leave, and flexible, work-from-home or hybrid work so that women and mothers have opportunities to pursue higher paying careers while balancing family responsibilities.
It also calls for stronger child care infrastructures, policies related to pay transparency, elimination of salary history, and boosting the rights of workers to challenge pay discrepancies. Stronger worker protections can help women pursue higher-paying careers while balancing caregiving responsibilities. It noted that acknowledging and understanding that women’s decisions — as well as men’s — are inseparably tied to cultural norms, structures and attitudes.
“There’s a tendency to dismiss the gender pay gap, explaining it away by pointing to women’s ‘choices,’” said Kolene Anderson, UWLP’s associate director and co-author of the report with Madsen and Robyn C. Blackburn, UWLP research fellow. “But to do so negates the impact of messaging about the socially and culturally acceptable roles of women and men. Long before a woman makes her first dollar, her occupational ‘choice’ is influenced by years of socialization, education, mentoring and messaging about her competency and responsibility, as well as the expectations of others.”
The report indicates that contributing factors to the national gender pay gap include occupational segregation, underrepresentation in leadership, caregiving responsibilities, bias, and limited access to flexible work and child care. Over a 40-year career, the gap generally can cost women an average of $462,000, with even greater losses for women of color.
“We need to overcome stereotypes about what constitutes ‘men’s’ and ‘women’s’ work, both in and out of the home, to begin achieving gender wage parity,” Madsen said. “Working to find solutions at the local, state and national levels will contribute to making Utah a state where girls, women and our communities can thrive.”