Best And Worst States For Women: Maryland Ranks High

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements may not have reached five Southern states that finished at the bottom of a study of the best and worst states for women released Monday. But Maryland ranked 22nd in the WalletHub study, released during National Women’s History Month. Nearby Washington, D.C., ranked 15th overall and Virginia placed No. 27 on the list.

Louisiana was at the bottom of the list, along with Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Alabama. With the exception of Nevada, all other states in the bottom 10 were in the South.

The five best states for women to live are Minnesota, Massachusetts, Vermont, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

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In its study, 2018's Best & Worst States for Women, WalletHub looked at data ranging from women's earnings, the percentage of women-owned businesses and unemployment rates to preventative health care, female homicide rates, and the incidence of rape and stalking in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

What do you think of Maryland's ranking? Does it reflect what you experience?

Maryland ranked 2nd for the number of women living in poverty and in life expectancy, and had one of the higher rates for health and safety for women, placing 13th.

Some other findings:

• The District of Columbia, home to the U.S. Capitol, ranked 15th as the best place for women to live. When adjusted for inflation, women there had the highest median wage of $32,355, compared to $16,843 in Hawaii, which had the lowest rate.
• D.C. women were also much more politically involved than women in Hawaii, voting in the 2016 presidential election at a rate of 77.2 percent, 1.6 times higher than in Hawaii, where only 49.3 percent of women voted.
• New Hampshire had the lowest share of women living in poverty — only 9.4 percent, which was 2.6 times lower than in Mississippi, which finished 51st in that ranking. Nearly one-fourth of Mississippi women live in poverty.
• Most women in Massachusetts have health insurance with an uninsured rate of 2.4 percent, which is 7.7 times lower than Texas, which finished dead last with an uninsured rate of 18.5 percent for women.

The ranking used data from the federal Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Center for Educational Statistics, as well as the Council for Community and Economic Research, U.S. News and World Report, Institute for Health Metrics and its own research. Read more about the methodology.

PHOTO: An activist holds a #MeToo sign during a news conference on a Title IX lawsuit outside the Department of Education January 25, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)