Study ranks Mississippi near the bottom for working mothers

Mother’s Day Weekend has come and gone, but being a mother is a full time job regardless of the place or time.

Balancing professional life and time at home can be a major headache for many mothers and one popular website recently ranked Mississippi near the bottom of its Best and Worst States for Working Moms.

WalletHub - a personal finance website famous for compiling ranked Mississippi 46th out of 51 states for working mothers, which puts the Magnolia State among other Southeast states on the low end.

Neighboring Alabama finished as the worst state for working mothers, while Louisiana finished 50th.

WalletHub ranked Vermont as the best state overall for working mothers.

The methodology for the rankings was determined by three different categories, including child care, professional opportunities and work-life balance.

Mississippi ranked 38th for child care, 47th for professional opportunities and 45th for work-life balance.

While Mississippi finished in the bottom half for overall child care, the Magnolia State was ranked first for lowest child-care costs as a percentage of median women’s income. Louisiana and Alabama also finished third and fifth, respectively.

The United Health Foundation’s most recent data says the average cost for center-based infant care in Mississippi totals 7.1 percent of a married-couple’s median income.

Mississippi mothers may save on child-care costs, but an April 2017 report from the National Partnership for Women & Families said women in Mississippi are paid 76 cents for every dollar paid to men.

This means the annual gender wage gap is $9,982 in a state where more than 201,000 family households are headed by women. The report also said about 40 percent of those families (80,974 families) have incomes that fall below the power level.

Additionally, African-American women are paid 56 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.

Earlier this year, WalletHub also ranked Mississippi as the worst state overall for women, ranking the Magnolia State last for women’s economic and social well-being and 48th for women’s health and safety.