California's working moms lowest for pay, quality day care

(KGTV) – Working moms, are you struggling to make ends meet? California women earn the second-lowest median salary in the nation, according to a Monday report by WalletHub about working mothers.

The personal-finance website compared the attractiveness of each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for a working mother based on 15 key metrics, such as median women’s salary, female unemployment rate and day-care quality.

California ranked 13 out of 51 in the overall tally. Idaho came in last.

The top five states for working moms in 2018:

1. Vermont
2. Minnesota
3. Massachusetts
4. District of Columbia
5. Connecticut

The Golden State’s scores were all over the map.

California earned major points in some areas, claiming the best parental-leave policy score. It took the second-best score for gender pay gap, trailing Vermont.

On the other end of the scale, California placed 49^th in day-care quality, beating only Nebraska and Idaho. California came in 50^th place for median women’s salary.

Life as a Working Mom in California (1=Best; 51=Worst)

• 1^st – Parental-Leave Policy Score
• 2^nd – Gender Pay Gap (Women’s Earnings as % of Men’s)
• 17^th – Avg. Length of Woman’s Workday (in Hours)
• 18^th – % of Single-Mom Families in Poverty
• 20^th – Pediatricians per Capita
• 31^st – Ratio of Female Executives to Male Executives
• 34^th – Child-Care Costs (Adjusted for Median Women’s Salary)
• 44^th – Female Unemployment Rate
• 49^th – Day-Care Quality
• 50^th – Median Women’s Salary (Adjusted for Cost of Living)