Women by the Numbers

From the U.S. Census Bureau

Find information on the status and achievements of American women, including population, earnings, motherhood, education, professions, and more in honor of Women's History Month.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

157.2 million

The number of females in the United States as of Oct. 1, 2010. The number of males was 153.2 million.

At 85 and older, there were more than twice as many women as men.

Motherhood

82.8 million

Estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States.

1.9

Average number of children that women 40 to 44 had given birth to as of 2008, down from 3.1 children in 1976, the year the Census Bureau began collecting such data. The percentage of women in this age group who had given birth was 82 percent in 2008, down from 90 percent in 1976.

Earnings

$36,278

The median annual earnings of women 15 or older who worked year-round, full time, in 2009, up 1.9 percent from $35,609 in 2008 (after adjusting for inflation). Women earned 77 cents for every $1 earned by men.

88%

The ratio of women's-to-men's earnings in the District of Columbia in 2009, among the highest of any state or state equivalent in the nation, with a ratio at or above 80 percent, along with Arizona, California, Nevada, New York, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and Maryland.

Education

29.9 million

Number of women 25 and older with a bachelor's degree or more education in 2009, higher than the corresponding number for men (28.7 million). Women had a larger share of high school diplomas, as well as associate, bachelor's and master's degrees. More men than women had a professional or doctoral degree.

30%

Percentage of women 25 and older who had obtained a bachelor's degree or more as of 2009.

55%

Percentage of college students in fall 2008 who were women.

Businesses

$1.2 trillion

Receipts for women-owned businesses in 2007. There were 141,893 women-owned businesses with receipts of $1 million or more.

7.8 million

The number of women-owned businesses in 2007. Women owned 29 percent of all nonfarm businesses; 910,761 of these were employer firms. Women were also equal owners with men of another 4.6 million businesses.

7.6 million

Number of people employed by women-owned businesses in 2007. There were 7,644 women-owned businesses with 100 or more employees, generating $357.9 billion in gross receipts.

More than 45 percent of women-owned businesses operated in health care and social assistance, and other services, such as personal services; professional, scientific, and technical services; and repair and maintenance. Women owned 52 percent of all businesses operating in the health care and social assistance sector. Wholesale and retail trade accounted for 36 percent of women-owned business revenue.

13%

Percentage of women-owned businesses in California in 2007, which had the most women-owned businesses at 1 million. Texas was second with 610,162 or 8.0 percent of all women-owned businesses. New York was third in number with 594,421, accounting for 7.8 percent of all women-owned businesses.

Voting

66%

Percentage of female citizens 18 and older who reported voting in the 2008 presidential election. Sixty-two percent of their male counterparts cast a ballot. Additionally, 73 percent of female citizens reported being registered to vote.

Jobs

59%

In 2009, the percentage of females 16 and older who participated in the labor force, representing about 72 million women.

39%

Percentage of females 16 or older who worked in management, professional and related occupations, compared with 33 percent of males.

23.9 million

Number of female workers in educational services, health care and social assistance industries. More women worked in this industry group than in any other. Within this industry group, 12 million worked in the health care industry, 9.1 million in educational services and 2.8 million worked in the social assistance industry.

111,000

Number of female police officers across the country in 2009. In addition, there were about 9,700 women firefighters, 338,000 lawyers, 294,000 physicians and surgeons, and 38,000 pilots. (Note: Number of pilots pertains to 2008.)