Idaho women earned 75.2 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earned in 2011, according to new U.S. Census data released today. That was an improvement from a year earlier, when Idaho women earned 73.9 cents per dollar of their male counterparts' earnings, the data showed, but Idaho still ranked 42nd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for its earnings parity; this is for full-time, year-round workers. The national average for 2011 was 77 cents.

Washington was above the national average at 77.3 cents; while other neighboring states varied widely. Here are their scores: Nevada ranked fifth at 84.9 cents; Montana was just behind Idaho at 43rd, with 74.6 cents; Utah was 49th at 69 cents; and Wyoming had the largest gap in the nation between female and male earnings, at 66.6 cents.

The National Women's Law Center, which analyzed the new data, reported that from 2010 to 2011, gender wage gaps narrowed in 24 states - including Idaho - while they increased in seven states and stayed flat in 20. Washington, D.C., where women earned 90.4 cents per dollar their male counterparts earned, had the smallest wage gap, while the lowest among states came in Vermont at 86.7 cents. You can see the full state-by-state chart here.