Minneapolis-St. Paul best cities for working mothers: poll

A customer shops in the expanded baby department at a remodelled Sam's Club in Rogers, Arkansas June 3, 2010.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Minneapolis-St. Paul edged past Washington D.C. and Boston as the best cities in the United States for working mothers.

They earned high marks for their low crime rate and unemployment in the rankings of 50 cities compiled by Forbes.com/forbeswoman.

"It's got the allure of a Midwestern city. It's safe and it's relatively a rural city," said Meghan Casserly of Forbes, adding that the people are also nice.

The twin cities knocked out New York, which held the top spot last year and fell to No. 8 in the latest rankings, which considered women's income, cost of living, availability of pediatricians, safety, employment and spending on education.

Washington came in second, despite being one of the most expensive cities to live in, because it boasts the lowest unemployment rate among the ranked cities and it topped the list for women's income with its large highly-educated work-force.

"The government is doing well and new people are moving to the city," Casserly said. "It's a relatively safe place to live. You're going to earn a lot of money."

Pittsburgh and Baltimore in Maryland rounded out the top five cities.

Las Vegas, with a jobless rate of 14.1 percent, high crime rate and property woes, came at the bottom of the list for the second time.

Orlando, Jacksonville and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, all in Florida, were also ranked low, as were Memphis in Tennessee and Charlotte in North Carolina.

The full list can be found at www.forbes.com/forbeswoman. (Reporting by Daniel Lippman; Editing by )