News

10 States Women Should Move To -- & 10 We Should Run From

NewsPublished Mar 29, 2017
By Maressa Brown
women on beachiStock.com/jacoblund

Whether you're a proud southern mama or a California girl at heart, the state you live in can have a major effect on your quality of life. As women especially, our earning potential and our access to essential health services, education, and representation may vary wildly depending on the state in which we choose to put down roots. That's one major takeaway from a new study of the best and worst US states for women from MoveHub.com.

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By cross-referencing data for the gender pay gap, political representation in the state legislature, equality in education, accessibility to health insurance, reproductive rights, and the number of incidents of violence against women at the hands of men, the site was able to rank all 50 states from best to worst. Unsurprisingly, the states that had the least female representation in state government also fared pretty poorly otherwise!

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Here are the 10 best states to live in and the 10 worst, based on MoveHub.com's aggregated findings.

1/20
#10 Best: Delaware-placeholder
#10 Best: Delaware
slgckgc/Flickr

#10 Best: Delaware

The small state shows up big for women as it ties with New York for the lowest gender pay gap in the country: Although the gap might be larger for women of color, women overall are paid 89 cents to a man's dollar.

2/20
#10 Worst: Georgia-placeholder
#10 Worst: Georgia
Heather Kennedy/Flickr

#10 Worst: Georgia

Nineteen percent of women in the Peach State lack health insurance, making it the 49th worst in the country in this category.

3/20
#9 Best: Massachussetts-placeholder
#9 Best: Massachussetts
MatthewReid/Flickr

#9 Best: Massachussetts

Being able to call badass resister Elizabeth Warren its senator isn't MA's only claim to fame. Thanks to the state's 11-year-old universal health care plan, the Bay State can also take pride in the low rate of women without health insurance (just 6 percent, making it the fifth best state in this category). This has also been linked, in another report by United Health Foundation, to the state's low rates of infant, neonatal, and child mortality, coupled with a low prevalence of obesity among women.  

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4/20
#9 Worst: Virginia-placeholder
#9 Worst: Virginia
MBandman/Flickr

#9 Worst: Virginia

Virginia comes in 33rd when it comes to public abortion access, which is no surprise, being that the state has passed more than a dozen restrictions on abortion access since Roe v. Wade in 1973, according to NARAL Pro-Choice. For many women, accessing abortion is more difficult today than it was in the '70s after Roe. More than 92 percent of Virginia cities or counties have no abortion provider, and approximately 55 percent of Virginia women live in such a city or county.

5/20
#8 Best: California-placeholder
#8 Best: California
lookcatalog/Flickr

#8 Best: California

When it comes to progressive reproductive rights, the Golden State is a shining example. Not only does California come in second best in the nation for access to public abortion, but last year, the state passed a law that states women can obtain birth control pills from any pharmacy without a doctor's prescription.

6/20
#8 Worst: Michigan-placeholder
#8 Worst: Michigan
Tran Mau Tri Tam/Unsplash

#8 Worst: Michigan

Women in Michigan are paid 74 cents to a man's dollar, making the Great Lake State come in 43rd in the nation for pay equity. 

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7/20
#7 Best: New York-placeholder
#7 Best: New York
Leonel Ponce/Flickr

#7 Best: New York

Sure, it's tied for the lowest gender pay gap in the country with Delaware -- but the Empire State also passed laws in 2015 to strengthen human trafficking laws and protections for domestic violence victims and end pregnancy discrimination in all workplaces.

8/20
#7 Worst: Texas-placeholder
#7 Worst: Texas
crockadile/Flick

#7 Worst: Texas

Thanks to a 2013 law called House Bill 2, Texas has severe restrictions on abortions and abortion access in the state. In turn, nearly half of the state's abortion clinics closed. So it's no shock that the state comes in 34th in abortion access. The state is also the worst in terms of women's health care; 21 percent of women in the state lack coverage.

9/20
#6 Best: Maine-placeholder
#6 Best: Maine
Mark Goebel/Flickr

#6 Best: Maine

Only 6 percent of women in the Pine Tree State lack health insurance, making Maine the fourth best in that category. And another 2017 survey from WalletHub which used data from multiple sources (such as the US Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Violence Policy Center) ranked Maine fourth best in terms of "women's economic and social well-being."

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10/20
#6 Worst: Missouri-placeholder
#6 Worst: Missouri
Ron Reiring/Flickr

#6 Worst: Missouri

In term of equal education, Missouri ranks pretty poorly, coming in 44th, and according to TrustWomen.org, the state is notorious for its many anti-abortion laws.

11/20
#5 Best: Maryland-placeholder
#5 Best: Maryland
Benjamin Child/Unsplash

#5 Best: Maryland

Not only did Maryland rank fairly well in all the categories that MoveHub looked at, but women earn competitive salaries compared to men, according to additional research by Bloomberg, which ranked Maryland as the most gender-equal state in the country!

12/20
#5 Worst: South Carolina-placeholder
#5 Worst: South Carolina
Ron Cogswell/Flickr

#5 Worst: South Carolina

The social and political picture in South Carolina for women is pretty bleak. Only 14.70 percent of state legislators in South Carolina are female, ranking the Palmetto State #46 in that category. Other research shows the state ranks seventh in the nation for women murdered by men.

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13/20
#4 Best: Illinois-placeholder
#4 Best: Illinois
Roman Boed/Flickr

#4 Best: Illinois

With a super-low 0.24 percent homicide rate of females by males, the Land of Lincoln comes in as the second safest state to live in. (#1 is Hawaii.) The state has also recently passed progressive laws that support women and families, such as one that requires all insurance companies to provide birth control coverage for up to 12 months at a time, and another that requires employers to allow workers to take up to half of their sick time to care for sick family members.

14/20
#4 Worst: Mississippi-placeholder
#4 Worst: Mississippi
Kenji Ross/Flickr

#4 Worst: Mississippi

Not only does Mississippi rank the absolute worst in terms of female representation at the state government (with just 13.20 percent of the governing body made up of women), but the overwhelmingly male legislators recently killed a bill that would have made domestic abuse grounds for divorce.

15/20
#3 Best: Minnesota-placeholder
#3 Best: Minnesota
USFWSmidwest/Flickr

#3 Best: Minnesota

Thanks to plenty of female representation in the state legislature (Minnesota ranks the fifth best in the country) and equal education (it comes in seventh), the North Star State comes in as third best overall. 

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16/20
#3 Worst: Utah-placeholder
#3 Worst: Utah
Ian D. Keating/Flickr

#3 Worst: Utah

Although the state got poor scores across the board, when it comes to equal education for women and men, Utah is ranked the absolute worst in the nation.

17/20
#2 Best: Vermont-placeholder
#2 Best: Vermont
Steven Depolo/Flickr

#2 Best: Vermont

Women make up 41 percent of Vermont's state legislature, making it the second best for female representation in government, and it ranks #3 in terms of public access to abortion.

18/20
#2 Worst: Louisiana-placeholder
#2 Worst: Louisiana
Stuart Seeger/Flickr

#2 Worst: Louisiana

Women in Louisiana make 68 cents to a man's dollar, ranking the state #49 in terms of pay equality. With access to public abortion, LA comes in at #48. The state is notorious for continuing to pass anti-abortion bills, like a recent one that bans the dilation and evacuation procedure, the safest and most common abortion method for women in their second trimester.

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19/20
#1 Best: Hawaii-placeholder
#1 Best: Hawaii
Kanu Hawaii/Flickr

#1 Best: Hawaii

Hawaii landed at the top of the list as the best state for women's health and well-being, notes MoveHub.com. Two big reasons: Only 6 percent of women lack health insurance, and Hawaii produced the lowest number of incidents of women being murdered by men -- 0.14 per 100,000 females.

20/20
#1 Worst: Oklahoma-placeholder
#1 Worst: Oklahoma
J. Stephen Conn/Flickr

#1 Worst: Oklahoma

Aside from its poor rankings for pay equality and representation, Oklahoma was also named the worst state for women due to recent laws that are meant to give the state more power to prevent women from accessing public abortion funds, and the state's overall conservative approach to reproductive rights (i.e., recent legislation introduced last month in the state would have women seeking abortions get the written permission of the father).

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