Study: Florida Meh for Working Moms

Wage equality, workplace opportunities, and other issues linked to gender differences in the office finally seem to be getting the notice they deserve. That said, your average working mom still faces her fair share of uphill battles compared with male counterparts. A new study aims to rank the 50 states based on the opportunities and openness available to moms to still punch the clock. For Florida, the third most populous state in the union, that's a lot of working women. 

WalletHub's new study — Best & Worst States for Working Moms — shuttled around 12 metrics relating to professional opportunities, child care options, and work/life balance. Florida, it turns out, is pretty meh — not among the best states for working moms, not among the worst. 

The Sunshine State was ranked 30th overall among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., when it comes to options for working moms. Just a little better than us: Pennsylvania. Just a little worse: Hawaii. If you break down the specific categories, Florida ranks 24th when it comes to child-care opportunities, 12th in terms of professional opportunities (not bad, Florida), and 44th (not good) for work/life balance. 

Who topped the list? The best state for working moms according to WalletHub's work is Vermont. These round out the top ten: 

2. Minnesota 
3. Wisconsin 
4. New Hampshire 
5. Massachusetts
6. Washington 
7. North Dakota 
8. Maine 
9. Virginia 
10. Ohio 

WalletHub's ranking put Louisiana in the 51st stop — the worst state in the union for working moms. The bottom ten round out like this: 

40. Arizona 
41. Kentucky
42. Oklahoma 
43. North Carolina
44. West Virginia 
45. Georgia 
46. Arkansas 
47. Nevada 
48. Alabama 
49. Mississippi 
50. South Carolina 

Florida is a ghost in all the study's specific breakdowns. It doesn't have the best or the worst when it comes to day-care systems, the gender pay gap, or female-to-male executive ratio. It's just pretty middle-of-the-road blah... which, for the third largest state in the union, is a little unsettling. Florida, come on, bro; you can do better than that.