Which gender has the most student loan debt?
Women hold 66% of all student loan debt. 41% of women undergraduates take out student loans, compared to 35% of male undergraduates. Women take an additional two years on average to pay off student loans.
Women are stereotypically seen as irresponsible spenders, but the data doesn't back this up. According to a 2019 Experian study, men carry more debt than women across nearly all categories, including credit card debt — the study found that men have $125 more in credit card debt than women on average.
Black women had the largest average student loan debt, at $41,466.05.
Unsurprisingly, younger people hold the majority of student loan debt. Borrowers between the ages of 25 and 34 carry about $500 billion in federal student loans—the majority of people in this age group owe between $10,000 and $40,000.
Student debt worsens existing wage gaps, with one study showing a woman with a bachelor's degree and debt of $30,000+ typically earns 31% less than a man with the same degree and no debt. Over a 40-year career, the “debt penalty” is estimated to cost women $213,000 in lost earnings.
White people, on average, are more likely to have mortgage debt than Black people, but Black people are more likely to have credit card debt (Dettling et al., 2017).
Of the 3,194 billionaires in the world in 2022, only 12.5 percent were women, meaning that there were 399 billionaires worldwide. Whereas male billionaires tend to be self-made, 45 percent of the female billionaires in 2020 had inherited their fortune.
| Generation | Share of consumers with student loan debt | Average outstanding balance per consumer |
|---|---|---|
| Gen Z | 28% | $24,473 |
| Millennials | 43% | $42,637 |
| Gen X | 21% | $48,733 |
Student loans help pay for tuition and fees, as well as room and board and other educational costs like textbooks. Among those who borrow, the average debt at graduation is $27,400 — or $6,850 for each year of a four-year degree at a public university.
Not controlling for factors including industry or job type, a study showed women earning $0.76 compared to every $1 that men make in 2021. The financial industry specifically has consistently clocked in as having among the largest gender pay gap, with the average woman earning $0.61 or every dollar earned by men.
Is there any gender pay gap?
Women are generally found to be paid less than men. There are two distinct numbers regarding the pay gap: non-adjusted versus adjusted pay gap.
At the top is Japan, whose national debt has remained above 100% of its GDP for two decades, reaching 255% in 2023. *For the U.S. and Canada, gross debt levels were adjusted to exclude unfunded pension liabilities of government employees' defined-benefit pension plans.
Data from the U.S. Department of Education indicates that around 86% of Black students take out student loan debt compared with around only 68% percent of white students. Black students also typically owe more than white students.
But between 2019 and 2022, median debt in Black households dropped to $26,000 while white households fell to $25,000. Hispanic households also saw a substantial decrease in debt balances, though their balances had decreased during the preceding three-year period as well.
Women around the world report higher levels of life satisfaction than men, but at the same time report more daily stress. And while this finding holds across countries on average, it does not hold in countries where gender rights are compromised, as in much of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
Today, women are three times more likely than men to experience common mental health problems. In 1993, they were twice as likely. Rates of self-harm among young women have tripled since 1993. Women are more than three times as likely to experience eating disorders than men.
Overall, the female poverty rate is higher than the male poverty rate, but the differences in rates by sex are rather small in all regions. The biggest difference is found in South Asia, where there are 109 poor women for every 100 poor men.
Gen Zers are having a harder time making ends meet, let alone building wealth. Roughly 38% of Generation Z adults and millennials believe they face more difficulty feeling financially secure than their parents did at the same age, largely due to the economy, according to a recent Bankrate report.
Colleges are already feeling the impacts of Gen Z's sentiments towards higher education. As of May, postsecondary enrollment remains significantly below pre-pandemic levels, with 1.16 million fewer undergraduates enrolled compared to the spring of 2020.
In many ways, Gen Zers are better off than their parents were 30 years ago, but fewer are financially independent — here's why. Compared with their parents at this age, today's young adults are more likely to have a college degree and work full time, according to a recent report by the Pew Research Center.
Is $100,000 in student debt a lot?
If you have six figures of student loan debt, you know how daunting repayment can seem. Student loan debt in excess of $100K can cause you to pay thousands in interest charges, and your monthly payments can take up a substantial amount of your cash flow.
| Popularity | Major | Total degrees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Business | 387,851 |
| 2 | Health | 257,282 |
| 3 | Social sciences and history | 161,164 |
| 4 | Engineering | 128,332 |
The average student loan debt amount is slightly over $30,000. However, many borrowers owe $50,000 or more in student loan debt. This isn't impossible to overcome using the right repayment methods.
Women and men begin closer to parity at the start of their careers in finance, but the C-suite is still largely dominated by men. There are comparatively few women role models and mentors in finance, and this may account for some of the gender disparity in top roles.
There isn't one single reason that the pink tax exists. It exists, in part, because some women's items are more expensive to make. For example, there might be additional costs related to importing items that get passed on to the consumer.
