Do men or women save more money?

From bank accounts to 401(k)s, the average American man has nearly $200,000 in savings — almost double as much as the average woman, according to new research.

An exclusive survey conducted for Newsweek by Talker Research explored the finances of respondents by looking at their debt and savings.

The survey, conducted between Jan. 15 and Jan. 20, 2025, sampled 1,000 Americans, with results showing that across their accounts, the average person has $145,778.30 in savings.

When broken down by gender, there’s a stark difference between how much money the average man and woman have saved up ($195,136.20 vs. $105,498.50.)

Donna Stefans, founder and lead attorney at Stefans Law Group PC, spoke on some of the elements that may contribute to this difference.

"Men earn more on average than women,” she said. “The gender pay gap is very real; women earn 84 cents on the dollar earned by men. That means women are paid less than men in more than 90 percent of the jobs at all levels of work and in almost every occupation.

"Women are often the sacrificer because of the wage gap because men make more money. It's a vicious cycle.”

She also observed the difference in social norms when it comes to the ease and opportunities for women to contribute to the conversation about money.

"Men discuss this topic all the time as part of doing business and are not intimidated by the conversation," she said.

"Women have less confidence in their investing and financial education, even if it isn't the truth, so they tend not to invest their money, and it won't grow if it sits in the bank versus putting their money into any of the investment markets that will grow at a greater rate to grow and save for the future, keeping it in the bank and cash cannot keep up with the investment markets.”

In addition to pay and knowledge inequity, she commented on how traditional gender roles may affect women’s ability to save.

"Women are also more likely to be caregivers, which, in turn, takes time away from paid work," she said. "They may become full-time caregivers for children and elderly parents or cut back to part-time to balance work and family."

According to Stefans, these setbacks will impact long-term financial preparation, all the way ahead to retirement.

"There are fewer savings for now and in the future. This makes it absolutely more difficult for a woman in retirement who has had less time and earnings to save for the retirement years," Stefans said.

As a result, she encourages women to strive toward financial freedom by focusing on "empowering themselves to empower their money."

Survey methodology:

Talker Research surveyed 1,000 general population Americans; the survey was commissioned by Newsweek and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Jan. 15 and Jan. 20, 2025.

We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:

• Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt-in to take part in online market research for an incentive
• Programmatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in

Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.

Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.

Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.

Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they failed quality-checking measures. This includes:

• Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of interview are disqualified as speeders
• Open ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other please specify options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant text
• Bots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify bots
• Duplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once

It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access.