Proportion of women in top 1% of earnings rises to 28.1%

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that since 2020 the proportion of women among the top 1% of earners increased from 24.8% to 28.1% in 2025.

The CSO said that Public Administration & Defence had the highest proportion of female employments at 39.2% among the top 1% of earners last year, followed by the Human Health & Social Work sector at 38.7%.

Today’s figures show that men represented 50.6% of all employments active for at least 50 weeks in 2025, while women represented 49.4% of all employments.

Men accounted for 71.9% of jobs with earnings in the top 1%.

Dublin had the highest median annual earnings in 2025 at €50,474, which was 9% higher than those of the State at €46,305.

Dublin was followed by Kildare at €50,043, Cork at €48,328, Meath at €48,011, Wicklow at €48,000 and Limerick at €46,426.

The lowest median annual earnings were recorded in Monaghan at €38,517, Donegal at €38,739 and Kerry at €40,440 last year.

The CSO noted that 54.9% of employments with earnings in the top 1% were held by those in Dublin.

Commenting on today’s figures, Sinéad Cullen, a Chartered Tax Adviser and co-founder of financial planning company Lifecraft, said that women’s lower earnings, career breaks, reduced working hours and missed promotion opportunities can have financial consequences that compound over decades, leaving women with less capacity to save, invest and build financial security.

“We need to look beyond pay and pensions and ask why women are still missing from so many senior roles,” Ms Cullen said.

“Increasingly, organisations are recognising the ‘leaky middle’, where talented women lose access to the opportunities and experience that lead to senior leadership. We need to examine whether our workplaces are designed to support progression through different life stages,” she stated.

“Ultimately, this is about financial independence, security and having choices, both during our working lives and in retirement,” she added.