New Jersey not a bad place for women to live, report finds

Personal finance website WalletHub put out its 2020 list of “The Best and Worst States for Women” based on 24 key metrics of living standards for women. These include median earnings for female workers, preventive health care and female homicide rates.

WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said New Jersey is the 17^th best state for women, dropping six spots from last year. New Jersey did a lot better when it came to health and safety (6^th) versus economic and social well-being (23^rd). In 2019, New Jersey ranked 7^th for women’s health and safety and 17^th for women’s economic and social well-being.

Gonzalez said the health care in New Jersey, especially for women, is great because there is a high number of obstetrics and gynecology doctors, good quality hospitals the female uninsured rate is low.

When it comes to safety, there is a low female homicide rate in the Garden State as well as a low prevalence of rape victimization among women.

But when it comes to the wealth gap between women and men, the rankings show that there is still a long way to go. There are not a lot of women-owned businesses in New Jersey, not a lot of economic clout for women-owned firms and job security for women could be a bit better, Gonzalez said.

New Jersey’s neighbors did not do badly on the list. New York ranked 12^th and Pennsylvania is 28^th.

Massachusetts is the best state for women followed by Minnesota, Iowa, Maine and Colorado. Louisiana is the worst state for women. Mississippi comes in second followed by Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma.

To view the full report, visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-for-women/10728/

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