A new study has placed Washington, D.C., near the very top of a national ranking examining where workers have the strongest protections and policies.
Oxfam America’s 2026 Best States to Work Index ranks the District of Columbia No. 2 among 52 U.S. jurisdictions, putting it ahead of every state except California.
The annual index looks at policies affecting working families, including wages, paid leave, workplace protections, and the right to organize.
While the study is not a general ranking of the best places to live, Oxfam says its findings have a strong correlation with several measures of well-being, including poverty, food insecurity, household income, GDP per capita, infant mortality, and unionization rates.
What makes the District of Columbia one of the best places to work?
The District’s No. 2 ranking is based on its policies in three major areas: wages, worker protections, and rights to organize.
Oxfam’s 2026 index evaluates 37 individual policies across those categories. The organization says the District stands out for having policies that provide workers with stronger protections than those required by federal law.
One particularly notable figure is D.C.’s $18.40 minimum wage, which Oxfam identifies as the highest minimum wage in the country. However, the organization also notes that the wage covers only about 43% of the estimated cost of living for a family of four supported by one worker, illustrating the gap between wages and living costs even in one of the highest-ranked jurisdictions.
The index also considers policies such as paid family and medical leave, paid sick leave, equal-pay requirements, protections against workplace harassment, caregiver protections, child labor standards, and protections involving workplace surveillance and algorithmic decision-making.
Oxfam’s research found that jurisdictions performing well in the index tend to also have stronger outcomes across several measures of economic and social well-being.
The organization stresses, however, that no jurisdiction receives a perfect score, and that there is still room for improvement across the country.
How did other states rank?
The District was part of a closely grouped top five in Oxfam’s 2026 rankings. California took the No. 1 position, followed by D.C., New York, Illinois, and Oregon.
The top five were:
- California
- District of Columbia
- New York
- Illinois
- Oregon
At the opposite end of the ranking, North Carolina placed No. 52, followed by Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Oxfam says the five jurisdictions at the bottom all have a $7.25 minimum wage and lack statewide requirements for paid family and medical leave and paid sick leave.
The 2026 results cover all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, meaning the ranking includes 52 jurisdictions in total.
What was the methodology behind the study?
Oxfam’s 2026 Best States to Work Index is based on laws and policies in effect as of July 1, 2026. The organization evaluates 37 policies across three broad dimensions: wages, worker protections, and rights to organize.
The three categories are weighted as follows:
- Wages: 35% of the overall score
- Worker protections: 35%
- Rights to organize: 30%
The wage category considers factors such as the relationship between minimum wages and the cost of living, tipped wages, local control over minimum wages, farmworker wages, and unemployment insurance benefits.
Worker protections include paid leave, equal pay, scheduling, harassment protections, child labor rules, heat standards, warehouse protections, and emerging issues such as workplace surveillance.
The final category examines policies affecting workers’ ability to organize and collectively bargain, including rules governing teachers, public workers, agricultural workers, project labor agreements, and certain gig workers.
Oxfam describes the index as a way to identify where state policies are filling gaps in federal labor protections.
