Oxfam’s Best States to Work index shines a light on the best and worst states for working families in 2025. In its seventh edition, we take a fresh look at where states across the country are raising wages, strengthening worker protections, and defending the right to organize—and where some are selling workers short. Our 2025 index also highlights where states are rolling back labor protections for children–a shocking new development over the last few years.
Working families—no matter where they live—deserve support to thrive. But as Congress fails to pass legislation, geographic inequality is growing and access to fundamental rights and decent wages increasingly depends on where you call home. And the costs of this reality do not fall equally on all communities; these policy gaps actually worsen inequality across lines of gender, race, and class.
How does your state rank? Oxfam's index covers all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Hover and click on the map to see how each state scores across our three policy dimensions (wage policies, worker protections, rights to organize).
Most states have raised minimum wages above the federal threshold of $7.25 (a poverty wage). These boosts make a solid difference. For example, in Washington, a full-time minimum wage job pays roughly $34,653 annually ($16.66 an hour); in neighboring Idaho, the same job pays $15,080 annually ($7.25 an hour).
Among the data points in this dimension: What is the ratio of the state's...
Russian propaganda is spreading false statements that the account of the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, was allegedly created with...