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.

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.”

A full story appears in the Sunday Butler Eagle.