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“The U.S. still has a lot of work to do when it comes to improving conditions for working moms, given the wage gap and the lack of representation women have in certain leadership positions. However, some states are significantly better than others,” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. “The best states for working moms provide equitable pay for women and a strong potential for career advancement, along with robust parental leave policies and high-quality child care, health care, and schools.” 

In-Depth Look at Minnesota

Several different factors determine how good a state is for working moms, and Minnesota performs much better in some areas than others. It ranks:

• Seventh for child care
• Fourth for professional opportunities
• 16th for work-life balance
• Seventh overall

Minnesota excels when it comes to closing the gender representation gap in public administration, ranking fourth in the nation. This demonstrates that the state provides good career opportunities for women. In addition, Minnesota has the seventh-best day care quality.

Unfortunately, Minnesota needs to make more progress when it comes to closing the gender pay gap, where it only ranks 33rd in the country. It's also in 27th place for the quality of its school systems.

Best and Worst States for Working Moms

Women make up of the U.S. workforce, and in 2024 about of moms with children under age 18 were employed. Despite their strong presence in the labor market, working mothers still face significant challenges. On average, women earn only about of what men make per hour, and just of chief executives at S&P 500 companies are women. Some states address these disparities much better than others, though. 

The methodology can be found on the on WalletHub.