By admin 
South Carolina is having tough luck when it comes to rankings.
The State previously reported on SC being named one of the worst states to live in and one of the worst states for working moms. Now, a recently released report says that the Palmetto State has some of the worst working conditions and qualities in the U.S. for 2026.
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Oxfam America, an independent, nonprofit, humanitarian organization, analyzes working conditions in all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., every year to highlight the best places to work in the U.S.
The group reviews each state’s wage policies, worker protections, workers’ rights to organize, plus several other factors to determine its rankings. The Southeast was generally noted as one of the worst areas for workers.
SC stood out, but not in a good way. It ranked dangerously close to the bottom.
Here’s where SC placed in the ranking and what the state needs to improve:
SC’s overall rankings
According to the study, SC placed 5th from the bottom of the ranking. Out of the 52 states and territories Oxfam America analyzed, SC was the 48th-best state to work in.
Here’s where it ranked across the three policy areas the study looked at:
- Wage policies: 48th
- Workers protections: 35th
- Rights to organize: 47th (tied for last with five other states)
Not much changed in policy from last year, except SC ranked slightly better and was named the 47th-best state to work in.
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Best and worst states to work in the U.S.
These are the five best states to work in the U.S., according to the report:
- #1. California
- #2. District of Columbia
- #3. New York
- #4. Illinois
- #5. Oregon
On the flip side, these are the five worst states to work in the U.S.:
- #52. North Carolina
- #51. Alabama
- #50. Mississippi
- #49. Tennessee
- #48. South Carolina
Methodology
The index Oxfam America used to rank each state is based on state policies in three dimensions: wages (35% of overall score); worker protections (35% of overall score); and rights to organize (30% of overall score).
In each state, the group checked to see if workers earn a wage that is sufficient to provide for them and their families. They determined this by looking at these data points:
- Ratio of minimum wage to cost of living for a family of four
- Ratio of tipped wage to minimum wage
- Local control over minimum wages
- Extension of the minimum wage to farmworkers
- Ratio of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to cost of living for a family of four
For worker protections, Oxfam considered the quality of life for workers, especially women and working parents, in each state. These dimensions include:
- Paid pumping breaks for breastfeeding workers
- Mandates for equal pay
- Paid family and medical leave; paid sick leave
- Fair and flexible scheduling
- Protection against sexual harassment in the workplace
- Extension of workers’ compensation to farmworkers
- Protections for domestic workers
- Heat standards for outdoor workers
- Warehouse worker protections
- Child labor protections
- AI/bossware protections
- Caregiver discrimination protections
Lastly, they took a look at whether workers have the right to organize and sustain a trade union. Here are the data points for this category:
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- State so-called “right-to-work” law (which suppresses union activity)
- Public teachers’ rights to collectively bargain and negotiate wages
- Mandates for project labor agreements (PLAs): agreements that stipulate that contracts for public construction projects must go exclusively to unionized firms
- Mandates for protection against wage-theft retaliation
- Policies on collective bargaining for public workers and agricultural workers
- Laws enabling sectoral bargaining for gig workers