Where does WA rank as best state for women in Northwest? New report has the answer

Jared Gendron, Shaun Goodwin
Cheyenne Boone/cboone@thenewstribune.com

Today marks the beginning of Women’s History Month, and personal-finance website WalletHub recently released a listing of the best and worst states to live in if you’re a woman.

Washington state ranked seventh overall, eighth on women’s economic and social well being, and 12th on women’s health care and safety. According to WalletHub, the Evergreen State was ranked the highest in Pacific Northwest region, which included Oregon, Idaho, California, Montana and Wyoming:

  • Washington — 7th

  • California — 16th

  • Oregon — 17th

  • Montana — 25th

  • Wyoming — 41st

  • Idaho — 42nd

A pack of New England states led the national rankings, with Vermont at first, followed by New York and Massachusetts. Oklahoma ended up dead last, with Mississippi and Louisiana just above it.

Source: WalletHub

WalletHub examined 25 metrics, such as women’s average pay, unemployment rate, share of women-owned businesses, friendliness toward women’s equality, depression rate and access to health care. Women’s reproductive rights also were considered.

U.S. women earned about 84 cents to the man’s dollar in 2020, according to Pew Research Center. In Washington state, nearly 6 in 10 minimum-wage workers are female, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

Despite women making up about 51% of the nation’s population, the Center for American Women and Politics states that female lawmakers only occupy around a quarter of Congress seats.

Washington is one of only a handful of states that has expanded abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. For, women’s life expectancy at birth, Washington ranked fifth.

For the study, WalletHub gathered data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Violence Policy Center and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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