With Mother’s Day around the corner, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2022’s Best and Worst States for Working Moms. According to WalletHub, 68% of women with children under age 18 were in the labor force during 2021.
WalletHub based the states' attractiveness to working mothers on 17 key metrics ranging from daycare quality to the median women’s salary and the female unemployment rate. The study tracked the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The northeast dominated the top tier.
Best States for Working Moms
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut
- Rhode Island
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
- District of Columbia
- Vermont
- New Jersey
- New York
- New Hampshire
Worst States for Working Moms
42. California
43. Georgia
44. Oklahoma
45. West Virginia
46. Nevada
47. Idaho
48. South Carolina
49. Alabama
50. Mississippi
51. Louisiana
Best vs. Worst
- Mississippi ranks 50th overall, but it's #1 in attractive childcare costs. As a share of the median women’s salary in Mississippi, childcare costs account for 11.8%, roughly half the 23.5% rate in Nebraska, the state with the highest rate.
- North Dakota has the highest number of childcare workers per 1,000 children younger than 14. The North Dakota figure of 25 is 6.3 times higher than that of Delaware, the state ranked lowest at 4 workers per 1,000 children.
- The District of Columbia has the highest ratio of female executives to male executives, 71% percent, which is 2.6 times higher than in Utah, the lowest state with a rate of 27.5%.
- Maryland has the lowest poverty rate, 23.5%, for single-mom families with children younger than 18, while Mississippi the highest rate at 47.6%.
The full report and accompanying videos are available at wallethub.com.
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