Massachusetts named best state for women in 2024 ranking

BOSTON - March is Women's History Month and there's no better place in the country for women than Massachusetts, according to a recent ranking.

Personal finance website WalletHub put Massachusetts above all others in its report on the "Best & Worst States for Women" in 2024. Rounding out the Top 5 were Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Vermont and Maine. The five worst states for women are Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Oklahoma at the very bottom, according to WalletHub.

Massachusetts was first in the sub-category of women's health care and safety, and seventh for economic and social well-being. The Bay State has the lowest rate of uninsured women, the second-lowest female homicide rate and the third-highest life expectancy at birth for women.

Massachusetts ranks highly for women's health care

"Women in Massachusetts can rely on great healthcare in general, as the state's hospitals rank third in the nation for women's health care, and only 7% of women couldn't afford to see a doctor in the past year," WalletHub writes. "Massachusetts is a great state for women who plan to have children, too, ranking as the best state to have a baby in and the best state for working moms."

WalletHub also considered abortion policy and access in its ranking. It was reported Friday that CVS and Walgreens will soon begin selling the abortion medication mifepristone in Massachusetts and some other states.

Gov. Maura Healey, the first woman elected governor in Massachusetts, directed the state to stockpile 15,000 doses of the drug last year in case it gets banned. 

"Massachusetts will always protect access to reproductive care, including medication abortion," she said in a statement.