New Jersey is the Fourth-Best state for working moms in 2026, according to a new WalletHub study. The study compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 17 key metrics ranging from day-care quality to the median salary for women to parental leave policies.
“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,” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. “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.”
In-Depth Look at New Jersey
Several different factors determine how good a state is for working moms, and New Jersey performs much better in some areas than others. It ranks:
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- 10th for child care
- Fifth for professional opportunities
- Seventh for work-life balance
- Fourth overall
New Jersey excels when it comes to closing the gender representation gap in manufacturing, ranking first in the nation. This demonstrates that the state provides good career opportunities for women. In addition, New Jersey has the third-best school systems.
Unfortunately, New Jersey needs to make more progress when it comes to the percentage of child care centers that are nationally accredited, where it only ranks 49th in the country. It's also in 48th place for the average commute time for women.
Best and Worst States for Working Moms
Women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, and in 2024 about 74% of moms with children under age 18 were employed. Despite their strong presence in the labor market, working mothers still face significant challenges. On average, women earn only about 82% of what men make per hour, and just 9.4% of chief executives at S&P 500 companies are women. Some states address these disparities much better than others, though.
Overall Rank | State | Total Score | Child Care Rank | Professional Opportunities Rank | Work-Life Balance Rank |
1 | Massachusetts | 72.37 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
2 | Connecticut | 66.29 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
3 | Rhode Island | 63.82 | 7 | 19 | 2 |
4 | District of Columbia | 63.58 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
5 | Maine | 62.31 | 2 | 9 | 13 |
6 | Minnesota | 58.03 | 6 | 7 | 16 |
7 | Vermont | 57.86 | 18 | 5 | 9 |
8 | Wisconsin | 56.38 | 14 | 16 | 10 |
9 | New Jersey | 56.26 | 13 | 34 | 8 |
10 | New York | 54.41 | 10 | 37 | 11 |
The methodology can be found on the full version of the article on WalletHub.
