Best & Worst States for Women’s Equality (2025)

Women’s rights in the U.S. have made leaps and bounds since the passage of the 19th Amendment, yet many women still struggle to break the glass ceiling because of unequal treatment in society. In 2024, the U.S. only ranked 43rd on the World Economic Forum’s ranking of 146 countries based on gender equality.

The workplace provides even more evidence of inequality. Despite advances toward social equality, women are disproportionately underrepresented in leadership positions. Women make up more than 50% of the population, but constitute only around 28% of legislators and 9% of S&P 500 CEOs.

To determine where women receive the most equal treatment, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 17 key indicators of gender equality. Our data set ranges from the gap between female and male executives to the disparity in unemployment rates for women and men.

Top 5 States for Women’s Equality

1. Hawaii
2. California
3. Minnesota
4. Maine
5. New Mexico

“Ensuring women’s equality requires more than simply giving men and women the same fundamental rights. States also need to work to make sure that women receive equal treatment to men when it comes to financial opportunities, education, and politics. The best states for women’s equality have drastically reduced the disparities between men and women on multiple fronts.”

Cassandra Happe, WalletHub Analyst

Main Findings

Best States for Women’s Rights

Note: With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.

Income Gap

Smallest

• 1. Rhode Island
• 2. Delaware
• 3. Minnesota
• 4. Oregon
• 5. Nebraska

Largest

• 46. Indiana
• 47. Louisiana
• 48. Wyoming
• 49. New Hampshire
• 50. Utah

Disadvantaged Gender:

Women

Executive Positions Gap

Smallest

• 1. Wyoming
• 2. Alaska
• 3. West Virginia
• 4. New Mexico
• 5. Nevada

Largest

• 46. New Jersey
• 47. Connecticut
• 48. Utah
• 49. Massachusetts
• 50. New York

Disadvantaged Gender:

Women

Work Hours Gap

Smallest

• 1. Maryland
• 2. Nevada
• 3. Hawaii
• 4. Arizona
• 5. Florida

Largest

• 46. Wyoming
• 47. Idaho
• 48. North Dakota
• 49. Alaska
• 50. Utah

Disadvantaged Gender:

Men

Educational Attainment Gap

Smallest

• T-1. Vermont
• T-1. New York
• T-1. Mississippi
• T-1. Maine
• T-1. Alaska

Largest

• 47. Florida
• 48. Virginia
• 49. Idaho
• 50.Utah

Disadvantaged Gender:

Mixed

Political Representation Gap

Smallest

• 1. Maine
• 2. Hawaii
• 3. Michigan
• 4. Alaska
• 5. Minnesota

Largest

• 46. Oklahoma
• 47. Ohio
• 48. Missouri
• 49. Arkansas
• 50. South Carolina

Disadvantaged Gender:

Women

Show More

In-Depth Look at the Best States for Women’s Equality

Hawaii

Hawaii is the best state for women’s equality because men and women enjoy very similar conditions in the workplace, in schools and in politics.

There is no gap in the rate of men and women who are minimum-wage workers in Hawaii, which is encouraging because it’s typical for a lot more women to earn the minimum wage than men. In addition, women are only 0.4% more likely to be unemployed than men, and men only have a 0.7% better job security rate, which means conditions for getting and keeping jobs are pretty equal.

In addition, there’s only a 1.3% difference in math scores between Hawaiian girls and boys in fourth grade, favoring boys, but by eighth grade, there is no score difference at all. This shows that schools are adequately preparing both boys and girls for the future.

Finally, Hawaii has no gender disparity in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, with an equal share of political representatives being men and women. The state legislature does skew more male, though.

California

California is the second-best state for women’s equality. One area where it shines is having the second-lowest gender disparity among people who make $100,000 or more per year. Only 8.1% more men achieve salaries of $100k+ than women. While this may seem like a high gap, the only state with a lower gap is Vermont, at 7.8%.

In California, women only have a 0.7% worse unemployment rate than men. In addition, only 1% fewer women are economically secure than men. Economic security means having enough income to grow your assets on top of meeting your basic monthly expenses.

When it comes to education, there is virtually no difference in the share of men and women with advanced college degrees in California, which helps explain why women are receiving high salaries at a rate close to men.

Minnesota

Minnesota is the third-best state for women’s equality, with the third-lowest pay gap between men and women. All states have a gender pay gap, but in Minnesota, women’s median weekly earnings are only around 9% lower than men’s. While there’s still plenty of progress to be made, that gap is far better than the often-cited “70 cents on the dollar.”

When it comes to politics, Minnesota sends equal shares of men and women to the U.S. House of Representatives, and both of its senators are women, which increases the chances that women will have their voices heard in politics.

Finally, women in Minnesota only have a 0.2% worse unemployment rate than men, and there’s only about a 1.5% gap in the share of men and women who have advanced college degrees. This demonstrates that the state has equity in education and the job market.

Ask the Experts

As the U.S. lags behind other developed countries in women’s equality, we asked a panel of experts to shed light on the reasons behind the country’s disappointing performance in closing its gender gap. Click on the experts’ profiles to read their bios and responses to the following key questions:

1. The U.S. currently ranks 77th globally when it comes to the gender gap in health and survival. What is driving this? What should be done to close this gap?
2. The U.S. currently ranks 63rd globally when it comes to the gender gap in political empowerment. Are there strategies the U.S. can learn from other countries to help close this gap?
3. What policies would prove effective at increasing female representation in senior management roles in the Fortune 500 and other large, multinational corporations?
4. How does inflation affect the gender pay gap?

Ask the Experts

Jessie B. Ramey
Ph.D. – Director, Women’s Institute and Associate Professor, Women’s & Gender Studies and History – Chatham University
Read More

Elizabeth Gregory
Taylor Professor & Director, Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies & Institute for Research on Women, Gender & Sexuality – University of Houston
Read More

Mary Godwyn
Ph.D. – Professor of Sociology, History and Society Division – Babson College
Read More

Katerina Bezrukova
Chair and Associate Professor of Organization and Human Resources – University at Buffalo School of Management
Read More

Methodology

To determine where women receive the most equal treatment in the U.S., WalletHub compared the 50 states across three key dimensions: 1) Workplace Environment, 2) Education & Health and 3) Political Empowerment.

We evaluated those dimensions using 17 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for women’s equality. For all metrics, we compared the differences between women and men. In certain states and for certain metrics where women showed an advantage over men, we treated the state as having gender equality.

Finally, we determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Workplace Environment – Total Points: 40.00

• Income Disparity: Triple Weight (~12.63 Points)
  Note: “Income” refers to median weekly earnings.
• Higher-Income Disparity: Full Weight (~4.21 Points)
  Note: “Higher Income” refers to median annual earnings of $100,000 or more.
• Disparity in Share of Executive Positions: Full Weight (~4.21 Points)
• Disparity in Share of Minimum-Wage Workers: Half Weight (~2.11 Points)
• Unemployment-Rate Disparity: Full Weight (~4.21 Points)
• Entrepreneurship-Rate Disparity: Full Weight (~4.21 Points)
• Disparity in Average Number of Work Hours: Half Weight (~2.11 Points)
  Note: “Average Number of Work Hours” pertains to full-time workers.
• Job Security Disparity: Half Weight (~2.11 Points)
• Economic Security Disparity: Half Weight (~2.11 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on the Basic Economic Security Tables (BEST) Index, which measures how much income working adults of different family types need to be economically secure. Economic security means having “enough income to meet basic monthly expenses—such as housing, food, transportation and child care expenses—and save for emergencies and retirement.”
• Disparity in Poverty Rate: Half Weight (~2.11 Points)

Education & Health – Total Points: 40.00

• Disparity in Advanced Educational Attainment: Full Weight (~13.33 Points)
  Note: “Advanced Educational Attainment” refers to the share of the population aged 25 and older with an advanced degree (higher than a bachelor’s degree).
• Disparity in Math Test Scores: Full Weight (~13.33 Points)
• Disparity in Doctor-Visit Affordability: Full Weight (~13.33 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the share of adults who could not afford a doctor’s visit in the past year due to costs.

Political Empowerment – Total Points: 20.00

• Disparity in Share of Lawmakers in U.S. Senate: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Disparity in Share of Lawmakers in U.S. House of Representatives: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Disparity in Share of Lawmakers in State Legislature: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Disparity in Share of State-Elected Executives: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected as of July 22, 2024 from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Women's Law Center, Institute for Women's Policy Research, The Nation's Report Card, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and Center for American Women and Politic.

Supporting Video Files:

• YouTube - National (for web embedding)
• YouTube - Hawaii (for web embedding)
• Raw video files (for editing into clips)