8 News Now: Nevada named one of the worst states for working moms

Nevada is one of the worst states for working moms, a new study found.

Payscale’s 2026 Gender Pay Gap Report shows women earn only about 82 percent of what men make per hour on average. Additionally, less than 10 percent of chief executives at S&P 500 companies are women, Women Business Collaborative says.

“The U.S. still has a lot of work to do when it comes to improving conditions for working moms, given the wage gap and the lack of representation women have in certain leadership positions,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up nearly half of the country’s workforce, and about 74 percent of moms with children under the age of 18 were employed in 2025.

Despite their presence in the workforce, working mothers still face challenges, including financial concerns and broader social questions about whether women are still expected to choose between building a career and raising a family.

Progress on how these challenges are addressed varies widely across the country. Parental leave policies and other legal protections differ from state to state. Additionally, the quality of support systems like affordable child care and public schools is not consistent nationwide.

To find which states are the best for working mothers, WalletHub compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 17 different factors, including daycare quality, childcare costs, pay gap, median women’s salary, and more.

“Some states are significantly better than others,” Lupo said. “The best states for working moms provide equitable pay for women and a strong potential for career advancement, along with robust parental leave policies and high-quality child care, health care, and schools.”

The study found that the five best states for working mothers are Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Vermont.

Nevada landed on the list at no. 47, ranking particularly low when it comes to child care and work-life balance.

The other four in the bottom five? Louisiana, Alabama, New Mexico, and Mississippi.

To view the entire study, visit WalletHub’s website.