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The World’s Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2023
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December 22, 2023
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December 22, 2023
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3:32Now PlayingAs a whole, women’s sports continued to thrive this year, with the National Women’s Soccer League and international soccer posting new attendance highs, the WNBA announcing its first expansion team since 2008 and the LPGA Tour promising to push its total prize fund past $118 million, up from roughly $70 million in 2021. Despite that momentum, however, female athletes’ pay still lags well behind the men’s. The top 20 male athletes in Forbes’ 2023 ranking, published in May, totaled $1.9 billion—more than eight times what the top 20 women earned—and the difference gets even starker from there. During the 2023-24 season, 60 NBA players will outearn Świątek with their playing salaries alone, according to Spotrac.
Combined, the 20 top-earning women made an estimated $226 million in 2023. That is a 13% drop from 2022’s $258 million, but the decline can be attributed almost entirely to the loss of Williams (who hauled in $41.3 million on last year’s list) and Osaka’s tumble to $15 million (from $51.1 million in 2022) amid her long layoff.
In fact, there are plenty of reasons to view the 2023 ranking with optimism. The median for the top 20 is now $8.5 million, up from $7.3 million last year, and 16 of the 20 list members are under 30, suggesting they could have more earning potential. There are also eight athletes surpassing $10 million, matching last year’s record total and double the number from 2021.
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