The Best and Worst State Economies for Women (PDF; 1.05 MB)
Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research
From press release (PDF; 290 KB):

Between 1999 and 2005, 15 states saw a widening of the wage gap between women and men, ranging from a 0.2 percentage point increase in North Dakota to an 8.1 percentage point increase in Idaho. Another 16 states experienced small gains, achieving less narrowing of the gap than the nation as a whole (4.3 percentage points). Only twenty, fewer than half, the states narrowed the gap more than the nation as a whole (which narrowed the gap from 27.3 to 23.0 percent). Real (inflation-adjusted) median annual earnings of women also fell nationwide for the last three years for which data are available (2003, 2004, and 2005).

Nationwide, women who work full-time, year-round have median annual earnings of $31,800, only 77 percent of men’s annual earnings of $41,300. Washington, DC, included with the 50 states in the study has the highest women’s earnings and also the smallest pay gap. Women who live in the District of Columbia earn $42,400, 85.5 percent as much as men who live there. DC is the only jurisdiction where the level of women’s median earnings is higher than the national median for men’s earnings. For men 24 states have median earnings above the national median.

Despite a lag in wage parity, women are making gains in other areas related to employment and earnings. The proportion of women in managerial and professional occupations, for example, is on the rise, at 35.5 percent, up from 33.2 percent at the time of IWPR’s last data release. The best states on this indicator are the District of Columbia (52.5 percent), Maryland (43.1 percent), Virginia (40.3 percent), Massachusetts (39.7 percent), and New Jersey (37.6 percent); the worst states are Idaho (27.1 percent), Tennessee (28.7 percent), Utah (28.8 percent), Arkansas (29.5 percent), and Nevada (29.6 percent).

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