Maine Is One of the Best States in America for Women, Report Says

It was another outstanding showing for Maine in a new report released about women’s rights.

WalletHub, a personal finance website, released its annual ranking of the states with the best and worst records for women’s equality. The Pine Tree State landed all the way up at No. 4 in the nation, putting Maine among the country’s leaders.

Now that’s a ranking Mainers can certainly be proud of.

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Maine came in with a score of 70.09 out of 100. The scoring is based on three major categories: Workplace Environment, Education & Health, and Political Empowerment. Those categories were broken down into 17 subcategories, with all of them being compared by gender. The three primary categories were then weighted and combined, with the best possible score being 100. You can read about WalletHub’s methodology and see all of the metrics here.

How Does Maine Stack up Against Other States for Women's Rights?

Maine ranked a respectable 18th in Education & Health. However, the state did much better in Workplace Environment, ranking 7th. Where Maine truly shined was in Political Empowerment, as it came in as the 3rd-best state in the category. That score helped push Maine to its overall ranking of 4th.

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The Political Empowerment ranking is no surprise. This state has a tremendous legacy of women in politics, including Margaret Chase Smith, Olympia Snowe, Janet Mills, and Susan Collins, just to name a few.

Number one on the list was Hawaii. The islands obliterated the competition, with all three of the state’s category rankings finishing in the top five. Hawaii was followed by Maryland and Alaska.

What are the Best New England States for Women's Rights?

As for the rest of New England, the rankings were spread across the map (no pun intended). Here’s a closer look:

5. Vermont
13. Massachusetts
18. Connecticut
25. New Hampshire
31. Rhode Island

READ MORE: Portland, Maine’s Harvest on the Harbor Returns With Lobster, Oysters & More

Honestly, great job, people of Maine! It’s nice to see that equality and care are still important factors in creating a wonderful society.

You can check out the entire ranking here.