The Best and Worst States in the U.S. for Gender Equality

Hawaii is the best U.S. state for gender equality, according to a new ranking compiled by the personal finance company WalletHub.

The state outranked all others when evaluated on factors including the workplace environment, education and health, and political empowerment. Maryland, Alaska, Maine and Vermont also made it into the top five, with South Carolina, Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma and Utah ranking worst.

WalletHub compared the 50 states using 17 measures of the disparities between women and men, including earnings, unemployment, executive positions, educational attainment and political representation. 

Hawaii took first place for both workplace equality and political empowerment. Women in the state are 1.3% less likely to be unemployed than men and have a 4.6% higher job-security rate, according to WalletHub. Women and men also make up equal shares of Hawaii’s delegation to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, although men continue to outnumber women in the state legislature.

Maryland, which ranked second overall, had the smallest gender pay gap in the country, with women’s median weekly earnings 1.4% lower than men’s. Alaska, in third place, had the smallest gender disparity in entrepreneurship and poverty rates.

Nationwide, women make up more than half of the U.S. population but still hold only around a third of legislative seats, according to data cited in the report. The U.S. ranked 42nd out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Index.

WalletHub’s analysis used data collected from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Center for American Women and Politics.