According to a new study, Butler County has a higher gender pay gap than state and national averages.

The study, conducted by the New York knowledge-based sharing website pansop.com, shows that in 2016 women in Butler County earned a median income of $24,061, while men earned $44,266 — a difference of $20,205.

This leads to a difference in pay where females earned 54 percent of male's yearly earnings in the county, the study states. Pennsylvania experienced a difference in pay of $13,392 between males and females while the nation had a $12,397 difference, according to the data.

The data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau and represents the median income for individual males and females in the U.S. aged 15 and up.

Kevin Pryor, a pansop data analyst for the study, said the group wanted to represent the information on a county-by-county level, giving a “localized view of the data.”

The numbers illustrate how men generally make more money then women, with Butler County's income gap $6,813 larger than Pennsylvania's, and $7,808 larger than the national gap.

“The data shows that women in Butler County experienced a significant difference in pay than men. Such a gap between the two genders represents how the national trend of gender pay is magnified here on the county level,” Pryor said.

Pryor said there are several reason why the difference might exist. Factors such as which careers people choose, their individual qualifications and their levels of education.

But in Butler County, more education means an even bigger gender-based gap in pay, according to the pansop analysis.

An analysis of gender pay difference based on educational attainment found that the gap in pay between the two genders increased with higher levels of education for adults aged 25 and up. In 2016, male high school graduates in the county earned $21,458 more than females with the same level of education.

The gap in pay between the genders was $15,991 for people with an associate degree, and increased to $44,189 for people with a bachelor's degree.

The increase associated with education levels is influenced by the higher-paying jobs that graduates are able to obtain with their degrees, the study states.

“The most interesting part of this that we noticed is that the gender pay gap increased as education increased,” Pryor said.

Career fields for both genders are also a major factor, he said.

Pryor said males tend to enter more specialized fields with higher paying jobs, such as engineering, while more females enter the field of education — a career track where “teachers (are) paid less than sales executives or mechanical engineers.”

Kelly Giles, vice president of Future POS, said in an email response that not many women apply for the software engineer positions with her company, and in the 19 years the business has been in the county, only two women have held that position, neither of which is with the company any longer.

“We do have women in leadership roles, from vice president, management, head of HR, quality assurance and sales,” however, she said. “Statistically, in the high tech industry, the quit rate is more than twice as high for women (41 percent) than it is for men (17 percent),” she said in her email response. “That is not the case at Future POS. I believe that is because we have created a culture at Future POS that does not make women feel like they have to work harder in order to get ahead.

“We are friendly to family planning, from being pregnant to nursing. The women we employ receive the same salary and benefits as their counterparts for the same job. We operate as a 'team' at Future POS and the women and men are both treated equally.”

Pryor said Butler County isn't an exception when it comes to uneven wages between men and women.

“This is not just Butler County,” he said. “All counties in the state are experiencing the same phenomenon.”

The news isn't all bad when it comes to women's wages. Pansop's study also shows that female income in the county increased by 22.5 percent between 2009 and 2015, while male median income increased by 8.7 percent.

Pryor said this is indicative that “the pay gap is beginning to go down.”

“This seems to indicate a trend where the difference in pay is beginning to equal out at a slow pace,” he said.

Stan Kosciuszko, Butler County Chamber of Commerce president, said after reviewing the study, he found the information “surprising.”

“I have been here almost 17 years, and I don't think we have heard many complaints from women in the county workforce,” he said. “None of my chamber members have said they have any issues at their place of employment with females saying they are not earning as much. I would have thought Butler County would be more equitable than these statistics would show us.”

Kosciuszko said part of the discrepancy in the wage gap could be attributed to the fact that more women are working part time or are more inclined to be stay-at-home parents.

However, Kosciuszko said Butler County does have many women in positions of power as CEOs and managers of local companies.

Giles said on a personal note, her career has not reflected any sexism in the work force.

“Honestly, with the exception of Future POS (where my husband is the president) I have had all female managers who were role models and continue to be dear friends to me today,” she said in her email response. “The women at Future POS are small but mighty and continue to grow.”

Numerous other individuals and professional organizations representing women in business did not return messages left seeking comment for this story.