New Jersey ranks No. 12 on Oxfam’s 2026 Best States to Work Index, which evaluated all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico on the strength of their wages, worker protections and laws safeguarding the right to organize.
California, Washington, D.C., and New York finished highest on the “best” list compiled by Oxfam, a progressive advocacy organization focused on workers’ rights.
The top three finishers all have hourly minimum wages that are more than double the federal standard of $7.25, and among the strongest worker-friendly policies such as paid family and medical leave, according to Caryn Cobb, Ph.D., the co-author of the study.
To compute each state’s overall score, Oxfam evaluated:
- Wages (35%) based on the state minimum wage and its ratio to the cost of living
- Worker protections (35%) based on policies such as equal pay mandates, paid family and medical leave and protection against sexual harassment
- Right to organize (30%) which measured right-to-work laws (that prohibit employers and unions from requiring workers to join a union or pay union dues), and protections for collective bargaining and against retaliation.
- New Jersey scored 60.42 out of 100, which put it at the No. 12 spot in the overall rankings. The minimum wage in New Jersey is $15.92 for most workers, which Oxfam said is 34% of the cost of living for a family of four, earning the state a ranking of No. 10 in that individual category.
The state also ranked highly for its right to organize policies (No. 7), but less so in the category for laws protecting workers (No. 17).
The states with the “worst” overall scores were North Carolina (No. 52), Alabama (No. 51), and Mississippi (No. 50). All three of these states have kept their minimum wage at the federal level of $7.25. None mandate paid family and medical leave or paid sick leave. And all have “right-to-work” laws, which suppress union activity.
