The Best States For Women To Live And Work Right Now

A new study is giving women around the United States food for thought on where they should live and work.

MoveHub, a site specializing in helping people move abroad, conducted a nationwide study using data from all 50 states on the gender pay gap, political representation in the state legislature, education equality, access to health insurance, reproductive rights, and the number of incidents of violence against women by men to conclude which states are best (and which ones are worst) for women. The study found that the island state of Hawaii was far and away the best place for women to reside.

“The Aloha state was the top performer when it came to women’s health and well-being; only 6 percent of the female population do not have health insurance—one of the lowest figures across all 50 states,” MoveHub said in a post. “When it comes to safety, Hawaii produced the lowest number of incidents of women being murdered by men—0.14 per 100,000 females.”

Overall, MoveHub said, states that scored poorly in terms of political representation also did badly on factors such as equal pay and women’s reproductive rights, “suggesting that the quality of women's lives is somewhat determined by inequality in government.”

While Hawaii scored exceptionally high in the study, the state of Oklahoma scored the worst.

Due to recently passed legislation aimed at preventing women from accessing public abortion funds, Oklahoma ranked dead last on women’s reproductive rights. Because Oklahoma requires women seeking abortions to get the written permission of the fetus’ father, MoveHub moved the state to the bottom of its list.

Beyond Hawaii, the top five states for women include Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois, and Maryland. Following Oklahoma, the states that round out the bottom five for women are Louisiana, Utah, Mississippi, and South Carolina.