The Best U.S. States for Working Women

Women now hold down the majority of jobs in the U.S. workforce. As Hanna Rosin has argued, in some ways the economic crisis may have tilted the playing field even further away from men, who have borne the brunt of blue‑collar job losses, and toward women, who are more concentrated in knowledge and service work. Still, a significant earnings gap between the genders remains, according to a host of studies, and in that respect men remain the winners by a large margin.

My new report, The Rise of Women in the Creative Class, written with my Martin Prosperity Institute colleagues Charlotta Mellander and Karen King, uses American Community Survey data to rank the best states for working women. We looked at rates of women’s workforce participation and wage and salary levels for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, we developed two new metrics to evaluate the best states for working women – a "Location Premium" and overall "Women’s Earnings Index." This week I'll summarize the key findings of that report. Today, I begin with our findings on the best states for working women.