Jose Sanchez
Research expert covering society, economy, & politics for Latin America
Gender pay gap in the WNBA and NBA - statistics & facts
While some teams in the WNBA and NBA play in the same arenas, there is no mistaking that the two leagues are worlds apart when it comes to pay. In total, average annual salaries in the NBA were over 100 times higher in 2024/25 than in the WNBA, with the latter standing at 120,000 U.S. dollars. Considering that the total league revenue in the NBA consistently exceeds 10 billion U.S. dollars per season, it stands to reason that professional men鈥檚 basketball players in the United States earn somewhat more than their female counterparts. However, for most parties, bridging the gender pay gap in basketball does not mean complete parity in pay. Rather, there is growing pressure to see a more equal distribution of revenue among players, with the estimated share of league revenue received by WNBA players only totaling 10 percent. Players in the NBA, on the other hand, get around half of league revenue.
