The Best – And Worst – States For Working Moms In 2021
The pandemic has been especially hard on women and their careers. Especially working moms.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that women’s participation in the workforce is the lowest it’s been in 30 years.
A study by Indeed showed that 29% of women have reduced their working hours during the pandemic, and 9% have left the labor market entirely and another study by Visier found 42% of women with children considered leaving the workforce and 52% have contemplated dropping out.
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Every little bit helps for working moms, even location. So which are the best states for working moms?
WalletHub compared the attractiveness of each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for a working mother based on 17 key metrics.
The data set ranges from the median women’s salary to the female unemployment rate to day-care quality.
“Even during non-pandemic times, working moms still face an uphill battle in the workplace, as their average hourly wage is only 85% of what men make, and only 6% of S&P 500 companies’ chief executives are women.
Such obvious inequality brings up not just financial questions but also deeply ingrained social issues. For instance, should women have to choose between career and family?
The real question, however, is what we’re doing about these fundamental problems. Progress appears to be taking shape at different rates across the nation. Not only do parental leave policies and other legal support systems vary by state, but the quality of infrastructure — from cost-effective daycare to public schools — is far from uniform as well.”
Here are the best states for working moms, according to Wallet Hub.
- Massachusetts
- District of Columbia
- Connecticut
- Vermont
- Minnesota
- Rhode Island
- Wisconsin
- New Jersey
- New York
- Washington
And now, the worst states for working moms from the WalletHub study.
42. West Virginia
43. Arkansas
44. New Mexico
45. Oklahoma
46. Nevada
47. South Carolina
48. Mississippi
49. Idaho
50. Alabama
51. Louisiana
Here are more interesting facts from the study:
- New York has the highest day-care quality score, 116, which is five times higher than in Idaho, the lowest at 23.
- Mississippi has the lowest child-care costs as a share of the median women’s salary, 11.88 percent, which is 2.1 times lower than in Nebraska, the highest at 25.23 percent.
- North Dakota has the highest number of childcare workers per 1,000 children younger than 14, 21, which is 5.3 times higher than in Delaware, the lowest at 4.
- The District of Columbia has the highest ratio of female executives to male executives, 71.00 percent, which is 2.6 times higher than in Utah, the lowest at 27.46 percent.
- Maryland has the lowest share of single-mom families with children younger than 18 in poverty, 24.40 percent, which is two times lower than in Mississippi, the highest at 47.80 percent.
To see the complete results, head over to WalletHub.