It can be hard balancing your professional life with your personal life, especially when you add kids into the mix.
There are plenty of parents who do this everyday, with 72.1% of married mothers in the workforce and a whopping 94.4% of married fathers working. That compares to 85% of American households in 1972 that were able to rely on only one income.
But some states are better for dads trying to balance work life with home life. Factors such as paternity leave, child care, median income, and more could be the difference between a great balance for dads and one that doesn’t work professionally and personally. Here are the states that WalletHub found were the best—and worst—for dads.
Best For Dads
|
Overall Rank |
State |
Total Score |
Economic & Social Well-Being Rank |
Work-Life Balance Rank |
Child Care Rank |
Health Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Massachusetts |
80.30 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
2 |
Connecticut |
75.68 |
8 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
|
3 |
District of Columbia |
73.56 |
2 |
4 |
9 |
5 |
|
4 |
New Jersey |
69.22 |
7 |
5 |
11 |
6 |
|
5 |
Rhode Island |
68.32 |
27 |
2 |
6 |
10 |
New England states dominate the best states for working dads with Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island all making the top five. The East Coast locked out any other states, with the District of Columbia and New Jersey rounding out the list.
Working in favor of Massachusetts is its ranking for Work-Life Balance and Health—the state topped the list in both of these categories. Those topics covered issues such as parental leave policies, commute time, health insurance, and physical activity. It also ranks second overall for child care, which includes issues like education. The state ranks first in the country for best school systems.
Second-place Connecticut is the best-ranked state for child care issues, which include child care costs, number of pediatricians in the area, and the quality of school systems. The state’s public-school systems are the second-best in the country, according to WalletHub.
The District of Columbia, New Jersey, and Rhode Island also rank high in a variety of categories, but it is sixth-place Minnesota that gets the other top rank of the four criteria. The state earns first place in Economic and Social Well-Being.
Worst For Dads
|
Overall Rank |
State |
Total Score |
Economic & Social Well-Being Rank |
Work-Life Balance Rank |
Child Care Rank |
Health Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
51 |
New Mexico |
38.36 |
31 |
50 |
50 |
43 |
|
50 |
Louisiana |
37.86 |
40 |
51 |
39 |
46 |
|
49 |
Nevada |
37.65 |
48 |
38 |
48 |
41 |
|
48 |
Mississippi |
37.14 |
37 |
48 |
49 |
47 |
|
47 |
Alabama |
36.11 |
51 |
18 |
44 |
50 |
Southern states don’t fare as well for working dads, with three of the five worst states based in the South while an additional two states, including top-ranked New Mexico, are in the Southwest.
New Mexico has the worst Economic and Social Well-Being for dads in the country, ranking last when it comes to issues like median family income, economic security, and poverty. It’s also the second-worst state for health issues for dads. But the state ends up at the bottom of the list overall with low scores in three of four categories while being ranked 18th overall, which is better than average, for Work-Life Balance.
Louisiana and Nevada make the list with overall low scores due to their average over the four different categories—Economic and Social Well-Being, Work-Life Balance, Child Care, and Health.
Fourth-place Mississippi is sunk by being rated the worst state for Work-Life Balance, with issues like parental leave and commute time. Fifth-place Alabama ends up as the second-worst state in both Work-Life Balance and Child Care.
More State-By-State Data:
#2026s #BestAnd #WorstU.S #States #Working #Dads
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