Luckily, personal finance website WalletHub has released a new survey that ranks the best places for working dads!
With Father's Day fast approaching, WalletHub apparently thought: "Hey, why not analyze the work-life balance, health conditions, financial well-being and child-rearing environments for working dads in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia across 20 key metrics?"
I mean, what better gift could the average working dad receive than the knowledge that he could significantly lower his overall work-life stress simply by relocating thousands of miles in either direction with small children in tow? It's either this survey, or receiving a new pair of beige socks over the weekend. (In our defense, dads can be hard to buy for!)
So which U.S. state is decidedly best for working dads? In a word: Minnesota. Known for its cold winters and cross-bladers of Scandinavian descent, Minnesota ranks very high in terms of both "economic and social well-being" and "work-life balance."
The top-five "best list" is rounded out by New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Jersey. Here's an official graph, with dark blue indicating a "best state" (#1) before gradually fading into non-working-father-friendly territory (#51):
So many gray areas, so little time. For now, let's look at the top-five dud states for working dads. Mississippi tops the list, followed by Nevada, Arkansas, West Virginia and Louisiana. Sorry, guys.
The states with the lowest unemployment rates for dads with children 18 or younger are North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, New Hampshire and Nebraska.
Meanwhile, the states with the highest unemployment rates for dads with children 18 and younger are Florida, Oregon, Michigan, California and Nevada.
You can view additional survey results by clicking here.
Of course, all 50 states are nifty in their own way. It's something we've known since at least fifth grade, when we sang this catchy song at the school concert. With any luck, we put most of the states in the right order and ended strong after muddling through the middle.
This weekend, let's thank our working dads -- and hard-working stay-at-home dads -- across all 50 states for everything they do. Happy Father's Day!
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon