Not all Social Security payments are the same in the United States, and that tends to hurt women more than men.

Despite the fact that women make up a majority of Social Security recipients, they’re also likely to have less money in their checks than men. The average Social Security payment per month for women is $1,760 nationally, while men are paid $2,198 per month on average. That comes out to a gap of more than $400 per month, or an almost 20% difference.

The gap between men and women can be even more dramatic by state depending on where you live —or less in some states, based on data from Finance Buzz. Here’s where women and men will have to account for the biggest gaps when it comes to calculating Social Security when they retire.

The Largest Gaps

1. Utah – 27.04% – $649
2. Louisiana – 25.89% – $542
3. Wyoming – 23.89% – $552
4. Texas – 23.47% – $513
5. North Dakota – 23.25% – $510

Women in Utah face the biggest gap between how much they receive in Social Security benefits each month compared to their male counterparts. A woman in the state gets an average of $1,751 per month in benefits compared to a man picking up $2,400 on average—a difference of $649 per month or $7,785 per year.

Second-place Louisiana has a gap of 25.89%, or a difference of $542. Wyoming, another mountain state, comes in third place with a 23.89% gap, or $552 per month. That means a man living in the state will get almost 24% more per month from Social Security than a woman.

The Smallest Gaps

1. District of Columbia – 8.36% – $174
2. Hawaii – 14.00% – $298
3. New York – 15.98% – $349
4. Maryland – 16.79% – $394
5. Vermont – 17.14% – $383

Workers in the District of Columbia may benefit from their proximity to government entities that rely on standardized pay scales. Less disparity between salaries for women and men may equate to a smaller Social Security gap later on. In fact, the district is the only one on the list with a Social Security gap of less than 10%. Women receive 8.236% less, or $174, a month compared to men. That translates to a $2,093 difference per year.

Second-place Hawaii has a 14% gap between men and women, while New York has a 15.98% gap.

One thing to note is that the three areas have high costs of living, with all of them landing in the top five most expensive states to live in, according to the World Population Review. That could be an issue if you’re living on a fixed income, particularly as a woman. The average benefit for a woman in the state with the biggest gender gap is $1,751 in Utah compared to $1,913 in the District of Columbia with the smallest gender gap.

Why Does the Gender Gap Exist?

Social Security benefits aren’t the same amount for everyone who receives them, with benefits based on the lifetime earnings of an individual. That means the more you work and the more you make will likely translate to more money in your Social Security check. In these cases, women are more likely to earn less, which translates to smaller Social Security payouts.

The pay wage gap between men and women has decreased over the past decades but it still exists in the workforce. The Pew Research Center estimates that women make 85 cents for every dollar earned by a man in 2024, and that gap is even wider when considering earnings for women in previous decades. In 1982, for example, women were making only 65 cents for every dollar earned by a man. That big gap can cause big issues when calculating Social Security payments based on lifetime earnings.

Women are also more likely to take on part-time work or even interrupt their careers in exchange for becoming a caregiver for children or aging parents. Those years of no work or underemployment can cause Social Security payments to be reduced when it’s time to start collecting benefits.

More State-By-State Data: