Maine ranked among top states for women's equality

WalletHub map showing Maine's rank as No. 4

Map / Courtesy of WalletHub Maine ranks No. 4 for women’s equality in a barometer by WalletHub, the personal finance website.

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By Renee Cordes

When it comes to women’s equality, Maine outshines all but three other states — and boasts one of the smallest income gaps — in a barometer by personal finance website WalletHub.

To determine where women in the United States receive the most equal treatment, researchers compared the 50 states in terms of workplace environment, education and health and political empowerment. Those were further broken down into 17 relevant metrics to assign rankings.

Hawaii leads the pack at No. 1, followed by Nevada, Maryland, Maine and Oregon to round out the top five.

The Pine Tree State was also ranked third for political empowerment and No. 6 for workplace environment but much lower (No. 29) for education and health. Maine also has the third-smallest income gap, behind only California and Vermont.

Among other New England states, Vermont was No. 10 overall, Massachusetts No. 14, Connecticut No. 17, New Hampshire No. 29 and Rhode Island No. 38.

'More work to be done'

Catie Reed, programming coordinator for the Maine Women’s Lobby, an Augusta-based nonprofit, said the findings show Maine is “going in the right direction when it comes to wage equity" but cited different findings from two other reports.

For example, the 2024 report from Maine’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women found that Maine women actually make 83 cents on the dollar that men make, she said. That’s two cents less than what the National Women’s Law Center reported in its study earlier this year.

Regardless of rankings or whether a woman makes 83 or 85 cents for every dollar a male peer makes, Reed said the larger point is that there’s still a gender gap in the workplace.

“Maine is a national leader in this area, and we are proud and grateful of that fact, but there’s always more work to be done,” she told Mainebiz.

Reed also underscored that data do not always reflect the lived realities of women in the workplace.

“Women work in part-time positions much more commonly than men do, most notably because of caregiving responsibilities,” she explained. “That really skews the numbers if you include those workers, since part-time workers are much more likely to earn lower wages than full-time employees.”