Women were paid $7,300 less than men in Arizona in 2017, study finds

PHOENIX — The average woman in Arizona was paid about $7,300 less than her male counterparts in 2017, according to the latest data from the National Partnership for Women and Families.

The data, which was released ahead of Equal Pay Day on Tuesday, found that the median annual pay for a woman in Arizona who held a full-time, year-round job last year was $37,084.

The median annual pay for a man in Arizona during that period was $44,421.

That meant that women in Arizona were paid 83 cents for every dollar paid to men, amounting to an annual wage gap of $7,337.

But the data found that the gender pay gap was even larger for women of color. Hispanic women had the largest pay gap compared to their male counterparts, while Asian women had the smallest.

Hispanic women who hold full-time jobs in Arizona are paid 55 cents to every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. Asian women are paid 80 cents, while African-American women fell in between, getting paid 68 cents to every dollar.

The data also found that if the wage gap was eliminated for women, they would have enough money for more than 11 months of childcare, nearly a year of tuition and fees for a four-year, public university, 49 more weeks of food for her family, more than five months of mortgage and utilities payments or almost eight more months of rent.

More than 307,000 households in Arizona are headed by women and about 31 percent of those households — or 95,062 — had incomes that fell below the poverty level, the data found.

The organization was also calling on local lawmakers to enact policies to help lower the wage gap.

Those policies included minimum wage increases, protections that help identify and challenge discriminatory pay and employment practices and family-friendly workplace supports, including paid family and medical leave.

KTAR News’ Kathy Cline contributed to this report. 

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