In policy debates, the terms “low earner” and “low income” are often used interchangeably. However, the continued presence of traditional gender roles in the division of labor between market and nonmarket hours of work suggests that for both birth cohorts currently reaching retirement and those currently of childbearing age, a sizeable number of women may have low earnings without being of low-income. This study finds that if policymakers wish to adjust future benefits and focus benefit reductions on middle or high primary or full-time wage earners in a household, the distribution of male earnings, rather than unisex earnings, would come closer to achieving such a goal. Both in the past and present, men are more likely to contribute the greater share of paid market hours worked and therefore are more likely to be the primary earner in the household