Between the rising costs of necessities like child care, housing and groceries, and the consistent gender pay gap, working moms have the cards stacked against them. The state they call home can make matters even worse.
There are 23.5 million working moms in the U.S., accounting for one-third of women in the workforce, according to the Census Bureau, and 70% of moms with children under 18 years old work or are looking for a job, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates.
But despite their high
“There are states that are not very good for working moms because they don’t offer a lot of professional opportunities,” says Jill Gonzalez, an analyst at WalletHub, a personal finances resource platform. “In Louisiana for example, women earn less than 75% of what men earn. Plus, the share of working women living with economic security is very low.”
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Gonzalez also stresses that access to child care can help — or hurt — working moms. Poor quality school systems and daycares, as well as a low percentage of nationally accredited child care centers, can further mothers from economic security.
In an effort to pinpoint the best and worst states for working moms, WalletHub ranked states out of 100 points based on child care, professional opportunities and work-life balance. WalletHub looked at factors like child care costs, the number of child care workers per total number of children, the gender pay gap in the state, the share of families in poverty and state parental leave policies. Notably, the highest score was just over 60 points, hinting at an overall failure to meet working moms’ needs.
Here are the 10 best and worst states for working moms, according to
