# Gender Pay Gap Calculator

> Paste hourly pay for men and women to get the mean and median gender pay gap, expressed as a percentage of men’s pay, with group averages.

Category: Salary, HR & payroll · Applies to: Worldwide · Last updated: 2026-10-29
Interactive calculator: https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/gender-pay-gap-descriptive-calculator

The gender pay gap is the difference between men’s and women’s average pay as a percentage of men’s pay. It is descriptive: it shows a difference, not its cause.

Also called: Pay gap calculator.

## Inputs
- Hourly pay, men (default 20, 25, 30, 35, 40)
- Hourly pay, women (default 18, 22, 24, 30, 36)

## Results
- Median pay gap
- Mean pay gap
- Mean hourly pay, men
- Mean hourly pay, women
- Median hourly pay, men
- Median hourly pay, women
- Men counted
- Women counted

## Formula

```
Mean gap = (Mean pay of men − Mean pay of women) ÷ Mean pay of men × 100;  Median gap uses medians in the same way
```

Where:
- Mean: the sum of pay divided by the number of people
- Median: the middle value when pay is sorted

## Worked example
1. Men: mean = 150 ÷ 5 = 30, median = 30. Women: mean = 130 ÷ 5 = 26, median = 24.
2. Mean gap = (30 − 26) ÷ 30 × 100 = 13.33%.
3. Median gap = (30 − 24) ÷ 30 × 100 = 20%.

**Result:** In this example women’s median hourly pay is 20% lower than men’s, and their mean pay is 13.33% lower.

## What the result means

A positive gap means women are paid less on average; a negative gap means they are paid more. The median is less affected by a few very high earners. A gap usually reflects who holds which jobs, not only unequal pay for the same work.

## Assumptions and limits
- Pay figures are on the same basis for everyone, ideally hourly pay so that part-time and full-time staff are comparable.
- This is not an equal-pay audit and does not adjust for role, grade, location or experience. Official reporting rules define which staff and pay elements to include.

## Questions

### Why use hourly pay?

Annual pay mixes hours with pay rates; part-time work is more common among women, so annual figures overstate the rate gap.

### Is a pay gap the same as unequal pay?

No. Equal pay is about the same pay for the same or equivalent work; the pay gap compares averages across the whole workforce.

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Source: GM¹X CalcVerse — https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/gender-pay-gap-descriptive-calculator