Married gay fathers make the most money, research suggests
A new research paper from has revealed a significant wage difference between married same-sex and heterosexual couples.
New research from the US Treasury Department seems to suggest that households with gay, married fathers tend to earn the highest income.
Joint tax returns for 2014 show that the average annual household earnings of a male same-sex couple is $176,000.
This is $52,000 more than a female same-sex couple and a massive $63,000 more than a heterosexual couple.
However, the demographic with the highest overall household income is male same-sex couples with children, who earn average income of $275,000.
That’s twice the earnings of their lesbian and heterosexual counterparts.
Researchers say that this huge gap may be due to expense of surrogacy and adoption – meaning only affluent, high-earning gay couples opt or are able to have children.
Other factors that may affect the statistics include the gender pay gap and location.
It is also important to remember that current figures may be very different, as same-sex marriage only became legal across all of the US in 2015 and this data was gathered in 2014.
New research recently claimed that gender stereotypes still play an integral part in same-sex relationships – with daily tasks being assigned based on who is more ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’.
The person seen as more ‘feminine’ is more likely to clean the house and care for children, whereas the more ‘masculine’ partner takes care of the DIY and car maintenance.
Researchers initially found that gender was “by far” the biggest factor in deciding how both heterosexual couples assigned jobs, but were shocked to discover the same logic applied to same-sex relationships.
