The Best and Worst States For Working Moms, Mapped

It is certainly possible to be a mom and to have a thriving career. It’s just much easier in some places (and for some people) than others.

The number of employed mothers with children under 18 in the United States has increased dramatically in the past century and a half, growing by over 800% and increasing from an estimated 7.5% to 67% between 1864 and 2014. In 1967, 49% of mothers stayed at home, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and this shrank to 23% in 1999. Numbers began to rise a bit after that. But according to data from the U.S. Census, as of 2025, 74% of women with kids under 18 were part of the workforce.

Being a working mother can pose many challenges. Numerous studies have found that in heterosexual marriages, working women still do significantly more housework and childcare overall than their male counterparts. Additionally, women still face inequality when it comes to equal compensation in the workplace, earning an average of 82% of what men make per hour overall.

Other factors, such as the availability and affordability of childcare, healthcare, and parental leave policies, can all play into working mothers’ quality of life. A 2026 analysis from WalletHub used 17 key metrics to rank all 50 U.S. states in terms of how well they support working mothers and their families. See the findings below:

Map displaying the best states for working moms | WalletHub

Overall Rank	State	Total Score	Child Care Rank	Professional Opportunities Rank	Work-Life Balance Rank
1	Connecticut	70.28	1	2	8
2	Massachusetts	69.25	2	6	1
3	Rhode Island	63.69	5	14	3
4	New Jersey	59.26	10	5	7
5	Vermont	58.34	6	9	9
6	Maine	57.49	3	20	13
7	Minnesota	56.42	7	4	16
8	District of Columbia	56.27	16	10	6
9	New York	53.37	12	33	12
10	North Dakota	53.24	11	12	20
11	Maryland	52.97	15	1	44
12	Illinois	52.71	9	8	24
13	Indiana	51.68	4	27	28
14	Wisconsin	50.28	21	25	10
15	Washington	50.25	35	29	2
16	New Hampshire	50.02	8	22	34
17	Tennessee	48.30	13	7	49
18	Delaware	47.81	14	17	41
19	Wyoming	47.65	19	37	18
20	South Dakota	47.48	20	19	25
21	Pennsylvania	47.47	18	13	33
22	Oregon	46.79	44	23	4
23	Nebraska	46.71	22	15	26
24	Utah	46.54	24	41	11
25	Kansas	46.35	23	24	19
26	Iowa	46.12	30	3	21
27	Ohio	44.85	26	16	22
28	Virginia	44.79	17	30	42
29	Colorado	44.42	25	18	27
30	California	43.83	43	40	5
31	Hawaii	43.59	27	45	15
32	Montana	42.94	33	35	14
33	Alaska	39.19	34	39	23
34	Kentucky	38.77	28	44	38
35	Arkansas	38.60	37	32	31
36	Michigan	38.29	39	28	30
37	North Carolina	38.12	42	21	36
38	Georgia	38.00	31	11	51
39	Oklahoma	37.86	29	47	39
40	Missouri	37.29	38	34	37
41	Florida	36.61	36	26	47
42	Idaho	36.10	46	48	17
43	Texas	35.86	32	38	48
44	West Virginia	35.62	40	43	35
45	South Carolina	32.71	45	42	45
46	Arizona	32.08	49	36	29
47	Nevada	30.40	48	31	46
48	Mississippi	29.84	41	51	50
49	New Mexico	27.47	51	46	32
50	Alabama	27.39	47	49	43
51	Louisiana	26.39	50	50	40

How the Findings Were Calculated

Woman carries a baby in front of her on a sling | bigshot01 / Shutterstock

To analyze the data, WalletHub focused on three areas: child care, professional opportunities, and work-life balance. In terms of childcare, they measured day-care quality, child-care costs, pediatricians per capita, school-system quantity, availability of nationally accredited childcare centers, and number of childcare workers per child.

In the professional opportunities category, they considered the gender pay gap, the ratio of female executives to male executives, women’s median salaries, the percentage of working women who also have economic security, the number of families in poverty, and the female unemployment rate. They also calculated gender representation gaps across economic sectors and data from the site’s analysis of the best states for working from home.

Finally, the work-life balance category took parental leave, work-week length, and average commute time into account. The analysis utilized data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other research hubs.

The Best and Worst States For Working Mothers

Zoomed-in partial map of Connecticut | Alexander Lukatskiy / Shutterstock

The study identified Connecticut as the best state in the U.S. for working moms thanks to a small gender pay gap, low unemployment rate, and high-quality childcare. Massachusetts and Rhode Island followed closely behind.

Overall, the study found that blue states were more hospitable to working mothers. Louisiana, Alabama, and New Mexico ranked lowest, scoring particularly low in the childcare and professional opportunities sectors.

“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,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo wrote on the site. “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.”

How the Findings Were Calculated

The Best and Worst States For Working Mothers

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