How many women make six figures?
Out Of Pocket TV · October 28, 2026
About 1 in 8 American women earns $100,000 or more a year: 12.5% of women aged 18 to 80, or roughly 16 million people. About 5.6 million of them aren’t married.
“Six figures” usually comes up as a standard for men. Turn it around and the share is about half of men’s (23.6% of men earn $100,000 or more), and it moves a lot with age.
By age
Share of U.S. women in each age group earning $100,000 or more, the share who earn it and aren’t married, and how many unmarried six-figure men there are for each unmarried six-figure woman:
| Age | Women earning $100k+ | Not married and $100k+ | Unmarried $100k+ men per woman |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18–24 | 1.4% (about 1 in 72) | 1.1% (about 1 in 87) 174,000 | 1.6 |
| 25–29 | 8.8% (about 1 in 11) | 6.0% (about 1 in 17) 662,000 | 1.6 |
| 30–34 | 14% (about 1 in 7) | 5.3% (about 1 in 19) 622,000 | 1.7 |
| 35–39 | 17% (about 1 in 6) | 4.1% (about 1 in 25) 471,000 | 1.7 |
| 40–44 | 18% (about 1 in 6) | 5.0% (about 1 in 20) 560,000 | 1.2 |
| 45–54 | 19% (about 1 in 5) | 5.7% (about 1 in 18) 1.16 million | 1.1 |
| 55–64 | 15% (about 1 in 7) | 4.7% (about 1 in 21) 995,000 | 1.3 |
| 65–80 | 8.3% (about 1 in 12) | 3.6% (about 1 in 28) 941,000 | 0.9 |
By income level
Share of women aged 18 to 80 at or above each income, and the number of unmarried women and unmarried men who reach it:
| Income | All women | Unmarried women | Unmarried men |
|---|---|---|---|
| $75,000+ | 20% (about 1 in 5) | 9.85 million | 11.8 million |
| $100,000+ | 12% (about 1 in 8) | 5.58 million | 7.18 million |
| $150,000+ | 5.4% (about 1 in 19) | 2.20 million | 3.22 million |
| $200,000+ | 2.6% (about 1 in 38) | 1.02 million | 1.58 million |
| $250,000+ | 1.5% (about 1 in 68) | 571,000 | 778,000 |
| $500,000+ | 0.33% (about 1 in 310) | 133,000 | 198,000 |
Married or not, who earns more?
Share earning $100,000 or more among people who aren’t married and people who are:
| Group | Not married | Married |
|---|---|---|
| Women 25–34 | 9.9% | 13% |
| Men 25–34 | 14% | 30% |
| Women 35–44 | 12% | 20% |
| Men 35–44 | 16% | 42% |
What stands out
- Six-figure incomes for women peak between 45 and 54. Only 1.4% of women under 25 earn six figures. By 45 to 54 it’s 19%, about 1 in 5.
- Most six-figure women in their thirties are married. At 30 to 34, only about 39% of the women earning $100,000 aren’t married. At 35 to 39 it’s about a quarter.
- Unmarried six-figure men outnumber unmarried six-figure women until 65. Under 40 there are about 1.6 to 1.7 such men for every such woman. From 45 to 54 it’s nearly even, and over 65 the women are ahead.
- Marriage and income go together far more for men. Among men aged 25 to 34, married men are more than twice as likely to earn six figures as unmarried men (30% against 14%). For women the gap is much smaller (13% against 9.9%). This is what the survey counts, not why: it doesn’t say whether marriage raises men’s pay or higher earners marry more.
How these numbers are worked out
Age, income and marital status are counted together, from the same people, in the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (March 2025, about 108,000 adults). Income is total personal income before tax for 2024 (wages plus business, investment and benefit income), not household income, so a woman in a high-earning household can still be counted below $100,000. “Not married” means never married, divorced, widowed or separated, and isn’t the same as single. The $250,000 and $500,000 rows rest on the fewest survey records and are the least precise. For men and women side by side at every income, see income odds.
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