Best and worst states for working moms – where does Utah rank?

In the state of Utah, we typically talk about WalletHub’s “Best & Worst States for Women’s Equality,” which we have continuously ranked dead last (50th of 50) for 10 years running. But recently I share a more positive ranking (still not the best, but at least better, that is focused on WalletHub’s “Best & Worst States for Women” (34th of 51st, including the District of Columbia).

WalletHub’s Best & Worst States for Work Moms is another state-by-state ranking that just came out in the last week, and Utah ranks 27th of 51 (not terrible). For this ranking, WalletHub categorizes their findings into three main categories — Child Care Rank, Professional Opportunities Rank, and Work-Life Balance Rank — with a total of 17 key metrics that are each weighted differently. WalletHub pulls their data from a variety of sources that include the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Child Care Aware of America, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Council for Community and Economic Research, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, National Partnership for Women & Families, Knee Regulatory Research Center, and WalletHub research.

The top 10 states include Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, District of Columbia, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and New York, while the bottom five include Louisiana, Alabama, Nevada, Mississippi, and New Mexico.

Although not published in their online report, I was able to obtain more detailed data directly from WalletHub. Let me share what I found.

Child care

First, Utah currently ranks 27th for the “Child Care Rank” category. I have included the state rankings for each indicator within this category below (1=best state and 51=worst state).

1. Day care quality: 27
2. Child care costs (adjusted for the median women’s salary): 6
3. Pediatricians per capita: 40
4. School system quality (based on WalletHub’s “States with the Best & Worst School Systems” ranking): 15
5. Share of nationally accredited child care centers: 50
6. Number of child care workers per total number of children: 46

Professional opportunities rank

Secondly, Utah ranks 48th in “Professional Opportunities Rank,” which comes from the sum of the following indicators (1=best state and 51=worst state):

1. Gender pay gap: 50
2. Ratio of female executive to male executives: 51
3. Median women’s salary: 30 ($48,412)
4. Share of working women living with economic security: 30
5. Share of families in poverty: 3
6. Female unemployment rate: 37
7. Gender-representation gap in different economic sectors: 49
8. WalletHub “Best States for Working from Home” ranking: 2

Work-life balance rank

Thirdly, Utah ranks 12th in “Work-Life Balance Rank,” which comes from the sum of the following indicators (1=best state and 51=worst state):

1. Parental-leave policy score: 43
2. Average length of a woman’s work week: 1
3. Women’s average commute time: 10

I appreciate that Utah is doing well in some areas, although several of these do not align with data gathered from other sources. Utah does the best in these rankings in the following metrics: child-care costs, school-system quality, share of families in poverty, WalletHub “Best States for Working from Home” ranking, average length of a woman’s work week, and women’s average commute time.

However, the ones I continue to be particularly concerned about include Utah’s pediatricians per capita, share of nationally accredited child care centers, number of child care workers per total number of children, gender pay gap, ratio of female executives to male executives, gender-representation gap in different economic sectors, and parental-leave policy score. There is still much more work to be done in these and other areas.

Of course, these rankings only give us certain pieces of the puzzle in better understanding how women and families are doing in Utah. It can be easy to be dismissive of reports like this that don’t tell the whole story. But with more data and information we can be more strategic in finding ways to ensure that our residents and families can better thrive.

To do this, a key effort linking together all partners and individuals interested in improving Utah is A Bolder Way Forward. We welcome all Utahns into this work. The research is clear: leaders in Utah can help more women and families thrive through increasing access and affordability of child care, improving women’s professional opportunities, and helping parents and nonparents have better work-life balance.

If Utahns truly believe that families come first, then let’s continue our work toward making that true in all settings!