NEW JERSEY — New Jersey has been ranked the fourth best state in the nation for working mothers, according to a new study released by personal finance company WalletHub.
The report, which comes ahead of Mother’s Day, evaluated all 50 states and the District of Columbia using 17 metrics to measure how well states support women balancing careers and family life. Factors included women’s median salaries, unemployment rates, child care costs and availability, and parental leave policies.
WalletHub found that 74% of women with children under age 18 participated in the labor force in 2025, highlighting the growing importance of workplace and policy support for mothers.
In the rankings, New Jersey performed strongly in several areas, including parental leave policy, where it ranked fifth, and the gender pay gap, where it ranked eighth based on women’s earnings compared to men’s. The state also ranked 12th for median women’s salary adjusted for cost of living.
However, the report noted more moderate or lower rankings in other categories. New Jersey ranked 14th for both day-care quality and child-care costs when adjusted for income, and 30th for pediatricians per capita. It also placed 27th in the ratio of female executives to male executives and 21st in average work week length for women.
WalletHub said the study aims to highlight which states provide the strongest overall support systems for working mothers, including economic opportunity, child care access and work-life balance.
