Wyoming Is 4th Worst for Women’s Construction Pay — Even as Building Booms

Wyoming’s building boom hasn’t translated into better pay for women on job sites. A new analysis from Construction Coverage puts the state fourth from the bottom for women’s wages in construction, even as contractors scramble for workers and public money turbocharges big projects, Wyoming News Now reports.

The broader backdrop is whiplash. After COVID, private construction surged on the back of a red-hot housing market, then cooled as mortgage rates climbed. Just as that slowed, federal infrastructure dollars kicked in and public-sector work picked up. Now the outlook is muddier — tariffs, a softer labor market and stubborn interest rates are all headwinds — yet crews are still short. Industry groups estimate a deficit of roughly 439,000 workers nationwide, and federal data showed about 306,000 open construction jobs in July.

To fill the gap, firms are recruiting from talent pools they’ve long overlooked. Women now make up about 14.4% of all construction workers and 10.7% of full-time roles nationally — a steady rise from the single-digit share that held for decades. They’re still underrepresented in the trades, but they’re showing up in higher-paid corporate and technical posts: think in-house counsel, training and HR leads, finance, software and systems, and civil engineering. That mix helps narrow the gender pay gap inside construction to about 4.9%, far below the 18.9% gap across all full-time jobs.

Even so, where you work matters as much as what you do. Nationally, full-time women in construction earn a median $54,044 a year. In Wyoming, the median is $45,556 — below what Wyoming women make across all occupations ($46,422). Adjusted for the state’s cost of living, the construction figure comes to $50,145, and that adjustment still leaves Wyoming near the bottom of the pack. Women also account for a smaller slice of the state’s construction workforce — about 9.7% — than the national share.

It’s a frustrating disconnect for a state that prides itself on building things. The pipeline of projects is healthy, from roads and bridges to energy and industrial work, and women are increasingly essential to delivering them. But the pay data says Wyoming isn’t competing for that talent like other states are. If companies want to staff up in a tight market — and keep those federal dollars turning into finished bridges, schools and plants — closing the gap will be as important as pouring the concrete.