In recognition of Mother's Day on Sunday, the latest "Best and Worst" list from the personal finance website WalletHub ranks the best and worst states for working mothers. Vermont made the list's top spot for being the most working-mom-friendly state, up from third on the same list last year.
In creating the list, WalletHub considered data regarding child care, professional opportunities and work-life balance for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Here's how Vermont ranked in the subcategories that were factored into the overall rankings:
- 1st – Access to Pediatric Services
- 1st – Gender Pay Gap (Women’s Earnings as a Percentage of Men’s)
- 4th – Ratio of Female to Male Executives
- 3rd – Female Unemployment Rate
- 13th – Parental Leave Policy Score
- 9th – Length of the Average Woman’s Workday
- 13th – Percentage of Single-Mom Families in Poverty
- 16th – Women's Average Commute Time
In the overall rankings, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Massachusetts rounded out the top five. Maine came in eighth and New York 17th. Louisiana was at the bottom of the list. In general, WalletHub ranked blue states as more working-mom-friendly than red states.
Source: WalletHub
Data used to create these rankings were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Child Care Aware® of America, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Partnership for Women & Families and WalletHub Research.
