Congratulations to every woman currently residing in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. You are living in 2018's best state for women overall according to a new survey from WalletHub.
Minnesota was tops when it came to "Women's Economic & Social Well-Being" and #3 in "Women's Health & Safety," because of a low unemployment rate and high availability of medical services for women.
WalletHub determined how women were fairing in each state by looking at a variety of datapoints that have a major impact on a woman's life. The survey compared 50 states and the District of Columbia across 23 different key indicators of living standards for women. That includes things like median earnings, to the availability of women's preventative health care.
Rounding out the top five best states for women were Massachusetts, Vermont, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. The nation's most populous state, California, came in just ahead of the middle of the pack at #19.
Experts say that women who might be moving should get informed about how their new state treats things like gender, and LGBTQ rights. Darcie Rives-East, an associate professor at Augustana University says living in a deep-red state can have consequences.
"I would examine state policy regarding maternity and parental leave - does the state give women and fathers the ability to take time off without penalty? Or, is the state like South Dakota, and is a "right to work" state in which employers can fire employees without needing due cause?"
Overall, the survey found that women in blue states tended to fair better than their red state counterparts. The average ranking of states won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 was 15.67, while the average rank for states won by Donald Trump came in at 33.23 (The smaller the number, the more women-friendly the state is).
Which state ended up at the very bottom? Sad to say, that's Louisiana. With some of the highest rates of poverty, and homicide rate (per 100,000), the Bayou State ranked at #51 overall. Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Alabama rounded out the bottom five.
Each of the 23 metrics used to determine the ranking of states was graded on a 100-point scale with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for women.