Women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, and nearly 70 percent of moms with children under age 18 were working in 2019.

Unfortunately, those numbers are decreasing in 2020.

Data shows that during the coronavirus pandemic, unemployment is rising faster for women than it is for men, which begs the question of whether women are being targeted for layoffs as a result of sexism or if they just are more likely to work in highly-affected industries.

Even during non-pandemic times, working moms face an uphill battle in the workplace, as their average hourly wage is only 85 percent of what men make, and only 6 percent of S&P 500 companies’ chief executives are female.

Best and Worst States for Working Moms

In order to help ease the burden on mothers in the workforce, 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 median women’s salary to female unemployment rate to day-care quality.

Best States for Working Moms	Worst States for Working Moms
1. Massachusetts	42. Georgia
2. Minnesota	43. Nevada
3. Vermont	44. New Mexico
4. Connecticut	45. Oklahoma
5. District of Columbia	46. Idaho
6. New Jersey	47. West Virginia
7. Rhode Island	48. South Carolina
8. Maine	49. Alabama
9. New Hampshire	50. Mississippi
10. Wisconsin	51. Louisiana

Best vs. Worst

• • 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, 12.26 percent, which is 2.6 times lower than in Nebraska, the highest at 32.13 percent.
  • 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, 25.00 percent, which is 1.9 times lower than in West Virginia, the highest at 48.60 percent.
  • Minnesota has the highest median annual women’s salary (adjusted for cost of living), $46,355, which is 1.5 times higher than in New York, the lowest at $30,056.

To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please click here.