We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. Learn more.

  1. Lifestyle
  2. Childcare

These Are the Best and Worst States for Working Parents

By:
Kristen Bahler
5 min read

The U.S. is still the only wealthy country that doesn’t guarantee paid parental leave for employees, so rights for working parents are largely won at the state level.

Some states are fighting harder than others.

The National Partnership for Women and Families recently released a U.S. “report card” assigning all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, an A-F grade based on the breadth of policies they've aimed at working families. There were no perfect scores -- the partnership assigned just three A grades (and 12 Fs), but there were no A+ states -- but the spots that topped the rankings offered some mix of mandated parental leave, paid sick days, and accommodations for pregnant women and nursing mothers.

As the changing needs of modern families continue to influence political discourse, these state-level victories are re-shaping national sentiment, says Vicki Shabo, vice president of the Partnership. “This is a critical juncture,” she says. “The buzz around these policies is at an all-time high, and it’s creating opportunities for regular people to have their voices heard.”

Here are the places that are molding the conversation -- and those holding it back.

The Top 3: California, New York, Washington D.C.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act mandates 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain public and private sector employees, but some spots have gone much further. These three -- all of which provide expansive accommodation for pregnant and nursing workers -- earned an A or A- from the organization.

Many of these policies passed with bipartisan support, Shabo says. “These aren’t red or blue issues,” she says. “People want and need these policies.”

The B-Grade States: Rhode Island, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Washington, Maine

Many states have implemented some laws aimed at strengthening working families. The report called out a few in particular:

The Failing Grades: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wyoming

At the other end of the spectrum, a dozen other states earned an F grade for neglecting to pass a single law above the federal standard.

Workplace inflexibility has serious repercussions for working parents, says Nicki Gilmour, an organizational psychologist and workplace consultant. “People aren’t robots,” she says. “Bad policies leave employees physically exhausted and mentally checked out at work. Productivity is low, and resentment is high. It’s counterintuitive.”

Why You Should Care -- Even if You’re Not a Parent

Even non-parents seem to benefit when employers offer paid leave and flexible work schedules benefit all employees. A 2011 Gallup poll found that flexible work arrangements were “highly correlated with greater worker engagement and higher well-being” for the entire workforce.

And things are starting to change. While the vast majority of Americans still don't have mandated sick time, paid parental leave, or pregnancy and nursing accommodations, over 11.5 million workers do now have access to paid sick days laws -- up from 1.57 million in 2013 and 59,000 in 2006 -- according to the nonprofit organization Family Values @ Work. New legislation helped 11 states and the District of Columbia improve their grades this year, the report says.

Parents will spend more than $16,000 per year to raise a child in the first two years, as recorded by the USDA 2013 Expenditures on Children by Families Report. The same study shows average of $245,340 ($304,480 adjusted for projected inflation) is spent raising a child born in 2013 to age 17, and clothing accounts for 6% of those costs. Title: "Untitled," from the series The Reluctant Father. Phillip Toledano's daughter, Loulou, was born on July 19th, 2010. Like a lot of men, he was neither ready nor vastly enthused. Over a year and a half, he chronicled his journey from misery to joy in The Reluctant Father (Dewi Lewis, 2013). Philip Toledano, from THE RELUCTANT FATHER
Since 2012, Cloud b has sold 1.3 million units of sound soother products, including Sleep Sheep and other soft plush characters that play a mother’s heartbeat and sounds of nature to help calm babies and keep them sleeping. Title: "11.26.11," from the series I Promise to Be a Good Mother In this series, Jamie Diamond assumes the role of subject and photographer and puts on the mask of motherhood, dressing up in her mother’s clothes and interacting with Annabelle, a reborn doll. She started staging specific memories from my childhood in a variety of locations—both interiors and landscapes, acting out recalled events and behaviors to explore the mother-child relationship. Jamie Diamond
"The average American child, prior to high school graduation, will scarf down 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches," boasts the National Peanut Board, which states that $800 million a year gets shelled out on peanut butter alone. Title: "Untitled," from the series Kids Were Here. Ginger Unzueta is part of a collaboration among 30 photographers who specifically look for evidence that children were present without showing them in the frame. Ginger Unzueta—Kids Were Here
Three out of four kids ride a bicycle every month, Safe Kids reports, but more than half don’t always wear a helmet. "A helmet on the head of a bicyclist between 3-14 years saves society $580, for a cost of only $14 a helmet," according to Childrens Safety Network. Title: "Untitled," from the series Kids Were Here. Colie James is part of a collaboration among 30 photographers who specifically look for evidence that kids were present without showing them in the frame. Her daughter's monkey, George, got dragged around to buy a new bicycle. Colie James—Kids Were Here
In 2010, Travelodge Hotels Ltd., a hotel chain based in the United Kingdom, claims to have connected nearly 75,000 teddy bears that were forgotten in its 452 hotels with their desperate owners. This year, a North American–based chain, Millenium Hotels and Resorts, is offering a children's amenity kit with their signature Alfred bear for those little ones who might have left their plush friends at home. Title: "Pink Teddy," from the book MUCH LOVED (Abrams Image, October 2013). Mark Nixon takes portraits of our much loved and well-worn plush childhood companions. He writes, "When everything was unknown, they were there. Where anything could happen, they were there. These repositories of hugs, of fears, of hopes, of tears, of snots and smears. Alone at night, they were the comforters, when monsters lurked in darkened corners, when raised voices muffled through floors and walls. These silent witnesses...Sworn to secrecy, unconditionally there, unjudgementally fair and almost always a bear." Mark Nixon from MUCH LOVED
American children will discover an average of $3.40 per lost tooth under their pillows, estimates the 2014 Visa Inc. Tooth Fairy Survey. This is a pay cut of 8% from 2013. A full set of twenty baby teeth could bring in $68. For "Tooth Fairies" unsure of how much to leave, use the Tooth Fairy Calculator App. Title: "Hunter’s mother holds her daughter’s baby teeth in her palm," from the series Baby Teeth. Kelsey Hunter's mother saved all of her baby teeth. Anyone else would be repulsed by this collection of little broken teeth, but Hunter's mother treasures them because they remind her of the fantastical childhood correspondence Hunter had with the "Tooth Fairy" (Mom) through letters they exchanged under Hunter's pillow. In the series Baby Teeth and the accompanying short film Tooth Fairy, Hunter photographed the teeth in the style of a portrait, with the same tenderness her mother feels for the teeth in her cherished memory. Kelsey Hunter
Americans spend an average of more than three hours per day on their smartphones. The 2014 Mobile Behavior report found those aged 18-24 spend an average of 5.2 hours. Title: "Untitled," from the series Not on App Store Caio Andrade, Rafael Ochoa and Linn Livijn Wexell created a tumblr website, Not on App Store, with the goal of helping people find the right balance. In a world where everything is always connected, they believe sometimes it is good to just disconnect. They say, "We know technology is here to make our lives easier, and we just want people to remember that are feelings technology can’t replace." Caio Andrade, Rafael Ochoa and Linn Livijn Wexell—Not Available on the App Store
In 2014, Mom and Dad will spend an average of $670 on back to school items for their K-12 grade students, according to the National Retail Federation. That amounts to more than $26 billion. Out of this, teenagers will spend $913 million on their own school items. Title: "Untitled," from the series Our Lady Queen of Martyrs School. These lockers are from James Ransom's project documenting Our Lady Queen of Martyrs School in the Manhattan neighborhood of Inwood on Arden Street, where his kids attended preschool. He loved the colors and relics from when he was in grade school and wanted to document the space before it changed and lost its feeling. James Ransom
As of January 2014, there were nearly $24 billion in recorded sales for the Harry Potter franchise (including book, movie, dvd, rentals and toy sales), reveals IMDB and Scholastic Children's Books. Title: "Harry Potter," from the series LEGO® creations. Alex Eylar/Profound Whatever is a film buff and LEGO master who recreates the sets from popular movies out of LEGOs. Alex Eylarz/Profound Whatever
A 2006 Harris Interactive poll of high school principals found that schools with music programs have a graduation rate that is about 17% more than those without programs, states the National Association for Music Education in their "2012 Benefits of the Study of Music" brief. In addition, music students continue to score higher on standardized tests like the SAT than do their non-arts peers, as reported by the College Entrance Examination Board in 2006. Title: "Concert, 2010," from the series Domestic Vacations. Raised as the oldest of nine children, and the mother of three herself, Julie Blackmon takes an approach to her work that is at once autobiographical and fictional. Her images, like those of 17th-century Dutch genre painter Jan Steen, depict layered domestic scenes—homes in disarray, full of rowdy children and boisterous family gatherings. Julie Blackmon
Annual sales from Girl Scout Cookies topped $650 million in 2012, reports the Girl Scouts of the USA. Out of those purchases, Americans' favorite flavor was Thin Mint, with Samoas trailing by 6% in second place. "Buying cookies is about the skills a girl gains from interacting directly with you...and the experience of running her own cookie business," says the Girl Scouts. To find them in your area, get the app. Title: "Thin Mints, 2014", from the exhibition Free Range at the Robert Mann Gallery in New York. Julie Blackmon's series, Free Range, pokes fun at our consumer culture. This image depicts a Girl Scout troop in an Abbey Road-like line eagerly delivering boxes of the eponymous cookies, a wailing younger sister in the back red wagon having apparently overindulged. The project juxtaposes an enduring sense of nostalgia with keenly contemporary details to twist the artist's signature sly wit into strange, wry, and whimsical stories of family life. Her current exhibition at Robert Mann Gallery in New York (September 4 - October 18, 2014) coincides with the release of her new book, Homegrown (Radius Books, 2014). Julie Blackmon
According to industry estimates, "the average bar or bat mitzvah budget runs roughly $15,000 to $30,000," writes eMitz.com, the Bar and Bat Mitzvah Planning site. "Many variables come into play, such as: time of year, time of day, number of guests and the region. Manhattan and LA are the priciest." Title: "Sarah's Bat Mitzvah, Buffalo, NY," from the series Coming of Age. Rebecca Greenfield has been documenting contemporary American female rites of passage for the past six years, photographing coming of age traditions such as Quinceañeras, Bat Mitzvahs, Debutante Balls, Prom, Homecoming, Sweet Sixteen, Purity Balls, Sorority Rush, Apache Sunrise Dances and more. She looks forward to publishing the project in book form when complete. Rebecca Greenfield
More than 400,000 Hispanic girls celebrated quinceañeras in 2011. Each family spent an average of $5,000 to $10,000, adding up to a $2 million- to $4 million-dollar industry, states Univision Communications. Title: "Ronnie and her mom pose for a photographer and videographer they've hired to document Ronnie's Quinceañera, Brooklyn, NY," from the series Coming of Age. Rebecca Greenfield
"Prince" Justin Combs, son of Sean "Diddy" Combs, received a $360,000 silver Maybach for his sixteenth birthday in 2010. Prince Combs' bash was featured as one of the "blingiest" on MTV's "My Super Sweet 16," a reality show showcasing the drama and preparations behind the most over-the-top coming of age celebrations. Title: "The birthday cake at Kelley's Saturday Night Fever themed Sweet 16 party, Bearsville, NY," from the series Coming of Age. Rebecca Greenfield
On average, in 2014, Southern families spent nearly $200 less on prom-related costs than the Northeast and West Coasts, the 2014 Visa Prom Spending Survey discovered. The American average household spending on the annual high school rite of passage was $978. Parents were planning to pay for 56% of prom costs, while their teens covered the remaining 44%. Title: "Parking Lot of the First Integrated Prom, Lyons, Georgia 2010," from the series Southern Rites. For more than five years, Gillian Laub has photographed Mt. Vernon, a town in Georgia where—despite the integration of its schools in 1971—the high school's fall homecoming and spring prom remain racially segregated. In 2009, The New York Times Magazine published some of these images in a photo essay and multimedia piece, "A Prom Divided." It caused national outrage. Now, there is only one homecoming queen and one prom. Gillian Laub
In 2014, the average cost for a prom dress was $195, according to Seventeen Magazine. On top of this, a teen girl's prom expenses include shoes, handbag, hair, makeup, manicure and jewelry. However, teen boys are often expected to bear the costs for many prom activities, and the average costs of a limousine for four hours can be $450 and prom tickets can be $75. This excludes his tuxedo, accessories, their dinner and transportation. For help making a budget, get the Visa Plan'it Prom app. Title: "Nick and Angel," from the series At Risk, With Promise. Amy Anderson has been documenting students at Crossroads Alternative High School for the last four years. Coming from diverse backgrounds, they have been unable to be successful in a traditional school setting for various reasons. Some are brilliant, kind, articulate teenagers; some are abused, addicted, angry youth…many are both. Though they carry the wounds and fears of their past, her portraits honor the strength that develops as they begin a new journey and make changes and choices that will shape their lives. Amy Anderson
The total attendance for 835 NCAA Division I football games in the 2012-13 season was a little more than 38 million, with a per-game attendance of 46,000, making it the second most popular spectator sport in America," Money recently reported. At these events, there are an estimated 50 million tailgaters in the US, as recorded by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. 35% of them are so devoted to the pre-game event that they never actually enter the stadium. Title: "Untitled [Ole Miss #171)," from the series Ole Miss. In 2011, Brian Finke began documenting with wit and humor the tailgating tradition in The Grove at Ole Miss for ESPN Magazine. Brian Finke
20% of all millennials live with their parents, and 60% of all young adults receive monetary support from them, reports the New York Times Magazine. Only one in ten young adults from the previous generation moved back under the same roof and needed a financial lifeline from Mom and Dad. Title: "Mikey Billings, 29, Statesville NC," from the series Boomerang Kids. Damon Casarez's project, Boomerang Kids," is a series of portraits of young adults who've had to move back home with their parents after college for financial reasons, or who have never been able to leave home. High student loan payments, a competitive job market, and graduating into a recovering economy are a large reason why there is a trend to stay home longer. The series was commissioned by the New York Times Magazine and was photographed in 8 states and 14 cities across the U.S. Damon Casarez for the New York Times Magazine
The average amount spent per child on toys in the U.S. in 2013 was $371, making it the second-highest global spender (falling short of the U.K. by approximately $70). "The global toy market has an estimated size of more than 80 billion U.S. dollars annually, of which about one quarter can be attributed to the North American market," reports Statista. Title: "Untitled," from the series Back to Childhood In his grandfather's attic, Julien Mauve discovered a box full of toys he used to play with as a child—including this 1961 Fisher Price Vintage Chatter Telephone Pull Toy 747. Each of them reminded him of a particular moment of his childhood and he felt emotionally connected to them. Instead of storing them back into their box, he tried to imagine what they could look like in our adult world. Going further than their power to generate nostalgia, toys offer those who animate them a marvelous power to reinvent the world. Julien Mauve

“We’re seeing so much increased attention, from the presidential election to Congress to progressive and conservative interest groups,” Shabo says. “Policy progress is helping build the drumbeat at the national level."

 

Tags