Oregon Ranked Among Best States in U.S. for Working Moms

Tuesday, May 08, 2018
GoLocalPDX Business Team

When it comes to working mom’s, Oregon is one of the best states.

According to a recent study completed by WalletHub, Oregon is the 12th best state in the country for working moms.

“Women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, and more than 70 percent of moms with young children are working. Yet women earned only 82 percent of what men made in 2017 and have far less upward mobility, as evidenced by the fact that only 5.2 percent of S&P 500 companies’ chief executives are female,” said WalletHub.

Oregon’s Rankings

• 43rd Best - Child Care
• 10th Best - Professional Opportunities
• 4th Best - Work-Life Balance
• 5th - Lowest Gender Pay Gap

The Rankings

Oregon is ranked behind New York and North Dakota, who rank 10th and 11th respectively.

Oregon is ranked ahead of California and Wisconsin, who rank 13th and 14th respectively.

Vermont is ranked as the best state, while Idaho is ranked as the worst.

See the Full Rankings in the Map Below

The Method

In order to determine the best and worst states for working moms, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: 1) Child Care, 2) Professional Opportunities and 3) Work-Life Balance.

They evaluated those dimensions using 15 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights.

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

Child Care – Total Points: 40

• Day-Care Quality: Double Weight (~10.00 Points)
• Child-Care Costs: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Pediatricians per Capita: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• School-System Quality: Double Weight (~10.00 Points)
• Share of Nationally Accredited Child Care Centers: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Number of Childcare Workers per Total Number of Children: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

Professional Opportunities – Total Points: 30

• Gender Pay Gap: Double Weight (~8.57 Points)
• Ratio of Female Executives to Male Executives: Full Weight (~4.29 Points)
• Median Women’s Salary: Full Weight (~4.29 Points)
• Share of Families in Poverty: Full Weight (~4.29 Points)
• Female Unemployment Rate: Full Weight (~4.29 Points)
• Gender-Representation Gap in Different Economic Sectors: Full Weight (~4.29 Points)

Work-Life Balance – Total Points: 30

• Parental-Leave Policy Score: Double Weight (~15.00 Points)
• Average Length of a Woman’s Work Week (in Hours): Full Weight (~7.50 Points)
• Women’s Average Commute Time (in Minutes): Full Weight (~7.50 Points)