Updated State Policy Data and Rankings

To follow up on our 2024 Pennies on the Dollar: The Use of Subminimum Wage for Disabled Workers across the United States report,¹ we reanalyzed state data to assess progress on reducing subminimum wage as well as changes to related employment and benefit policies (see Figure 1 and Figure 2). For a detailed methodology of the data analysis and scoring methodology, see the earlier report. We found that nearly all states are reducing the number of workers with disabilities being paid a subminimum wage since our previous review.

Figure 1 is a map of the United States showing the total subminimum wage score, with the updated data for each state from the average of all four categories analyzed. It also shows state rankings, color-coded into the top third of states, middle third of states, and bottom third of states by scores.

Figure 2 displays the state rankings and total scores across the four categories. It also displays the scores for each state within each category that resulted in the total score. Colorado, Maryland, Maine, Virginia, California, Oregon, Vermont, Tennessee, Alaska, and the District of Columbia received the top 10 scores, respectively. Of note, Colorado, Virginia, and California all moved into the top 10 scores from the last analysis. Ranked lowest, from 42nd to 51st, are Montana, New Jersey, Arizona, Texas, Alabama, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri, Idaho, and Wisconsin. Three states moved out of the bottom ranking. Kansas made the largest jump, to rank 23 overall in this analysis.

The freely available spreadsheet with the raw data can be found in this 2025 data sheet.