Why women’s earnings plateau in their 30s while men’s just keep growing through their 40s: It’s not just motherhood

A new analysis of millions of Glassdoor salary reviews, published this week in the platform’s Beyond the Gap: Women’s 2026 Compensation Report, reveals a labor market truth that is both well-documented and still somehow underreported or taken for granted: women’s wages stop growing roughly a decade before men’s.

While male earnings climb steadily throughout their 40s, women’s earnings essentially plateau in their late 30s — a divergence that compounds year after year into a 25% gender...