MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota is the 5th-best state in America for moms trying to juggle parenting and career, according to a new report from personal finance website WalletHub.
The rankings were formulated by measuring three key life areas (child care, professional opportunities, work-life balance) using 17 metrics ranging from school system quality and pediatricians per capita to families in poverty and gender pay gap.
Here is how Minnesota measured up in a number of key categories.
Life as a Working Mom in Minnesota (1=Best; 25=Avg.):
- 9th – Day-Care Quality
- 14th – Child-Care Costs (Adjusted for Median Women’s Salary)
- 12th – Pediatricians per Capita
- 17th – Gender Pay Gap (Women’s Earnings as % of Men’s)
- 21st – Ratio of Female Executives to Male Executives
- 4th – Median Women’s Salary (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
- 11th – Female Unemployment Rate
- 16th – Parental-Leave Policy Score
- 10th – Avg. Length of Woman’s Work Week (in Hours)
- 6th – % of Single-Mom Families in Poverty
The top four locales for working moms, according to the WalletHub report, are Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Connecticut, and Vermont. The bottom five are South Carolina, Mississippi, Idaho, Alabama and Louisiana.
WalletHub says women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, and nearly 66% of moms with children under age 18 were working in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic mothers were initially impacted by job losses more than fathers, and while they have also regained jobs at faster rates, unemployment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
"Even during non-pandemic times, working moms still face an uphill battle in the workplace, as their average hourly wage is only 85% of what men make, and only 6% of S&P 500 companies’ chief executives are women," writes WalletHub managing editor John S. Kiernan. "Such obvious inequality brings up not just financial questions but also deeply ingrained social issues. For instance, should women have to choose between career and family?"
For more on the report and how the rankings were compiled, check out the WalletHub website.
