Where you live makes a big difference when you’re tryingto save for retirement.

It’s not just a matter of a state’s cost of living, or taxation on retirees, or even howwell or poorly educated its citizensare financially.

Instead, according to analysis from the Pew Charitable Trusts,it’s access to, and participation in, a retirement plan—whichvaries greatly depending on locale.

In its report “Who’s In, Who’s Out: A Look at Access toEmployer-Based Retirement Plans and Participation in the States,”Pew found that both access and participationare highest in the Midwest, New England, and parts of the PacificNorthwest, but lower in the South and West.

In addition, Hispanic workers are at a disadvantage comparedwith white non-Hispanics, with just access to a plan for the formerrunning 25 percentage points behind the latter.

Black and Asian workers also have less access to a plan thannon-Hispanic whites.

For a look at the 10 best states for participation in anemployer-provided retirement plan, read on.

1. Minnesota

With a 69 percent rate of access to employer-provided plans,Minnesota has a 61 percent participation rate.

Nationally, the access rate is just 58 percent, which meansMinnesota stands out nearly at the top with the second-highest ratein the country.

And Minnesotans take good advantage of it—they’re tied for thehighest participation rate nationally.

2. Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s rate of access is even higher than Minnesota’s, at70 percent, but its residents participate at the same 61 percentrate.

Sadly, although that rate of access is high, it means that morethan 400,000 workers did not have access to a plan.

And another tidbit in the good-news-is-still-bad-news category:the report also said, “the estimate of the number of workerswithout access to a workplace retirement plan is conservative,because the analysis focuses only on full-time workers employedthroughout the year. About 18 percent of those who are employedwork part time; retirement plan access and participation aresubstantially lower among part-time and seasonal workers.”

3. Iowa

With a 68 percent rate of access and a 59 percent participationrate, Iowans are still fortunate to be in the top 10.

It’s also the state with the smallest percentage of workersemployed in the leisure and hospitality industry,which doesn’t have a terrific track record of providing retirementbenefits for its workers.

In fact, out of nine employment sectors ranked last July, it wasat the bottom—with just 23.3 percent of the sector’s firmsproviding access to a retirement plan.

And only 34.5 percent of the sector’s employees with accessactually manage to take advantage of it.

4. North Dakota

Sixty-eight percent of North Dakota firms provide a retirementplan for their employees, and 59 percent of the state’s employeesavail themselves of the opportunity.

The good news here is that North Dakota has the fifth largestworker population under the age of 30—and a high participation ratein this state implies that young workers are actually managing tosave something for their retirement.

That’s not something millennials are generally known to do.

The report said, “The gap between access and participationproved largest among the youngest workers, many of whom facesavings challenges even when they have access to retirementplans.”

5. Connecticut

Considering that almost half of Connecticut’s workers arebetween the ages of 45–64, it’s a good thing that the state has 66percent of employers providing access to a plan, and 58 percent ofemployees participating.

The Northeast in general has a higher concentration of olderworkers.

Connecticut is also fortunate in that it’s among the 10 stateswith the lowest number of workers with limited education—just ahigh school diploma or less.

The less educated a worker is, the more likely he isnot to have access to an employer-sponsored retirementplan—and participation follows the same pattern.

6. New Hampshire

With 66 percent of New Hampshire’s employers providing aretirement plan, and 58 percent of employees participating—the samelevels in each as in Connecticut—the state also stands out forhaving the second-lowest number of jobs in the leisure andhospitality industry, known for its poor numbers in providingaccess to retirement plans.

It also has the lowest percentage of workers (12 percent) whomake less than $25,000 annually in wage and salary income.

That’s fortunate for workers, since only about 32 percent ofthose in that income bracket even have access to a plan and only 20percent of those with access say they participate.

7. Indiana

Indiana distinguishes itself with the highest “take-up” rate inthe country: the percentage of workers who reported having accessto a workplace retirement plan and were participating in thatplan.

Overall, 63 percent of the state’s employers provide access to aplan, and 57 percent of the state’s workers participate in one—but,among the population with access to a plan (as opposed to allworkers within the state), 90 percent of those in Indianaparticipate.

But, the study cautions, that doesn’t necessarily mean thatthey’re saving for retirement.

Pew pointed out that “many Americans use retirement plan savingsfor purposes other than retirement” and “[m]any people withdrawsavings before retirement to meet large expenses, such as buying orrepairing a house, consolidating bills, or paying educational andmedical costs.”

8. Delaware

Delaware, with 63 percent of its employers offering a plan and56 percent of its workers participating in one, has more than themedian percentage of workers with a high school diploma orless.

There are fewer than the median percentage of workers with wageand salary incomes of $25,000 or less in Delaware, whichundoubtedly helps its participation rate.

Its workers also tend to be older; it has fewer than the medianpercentage of workers under age 30.

9. Kansas

Kansas has the third highest percentage of workers under age30—more than a quarter of its workforce.

Yet it still has a high participation rate of 56 percent, and 66percent of its employers provide access to a plan.

10. Maine

Sixty-seven percent of Maine’s employers provide access to aretirement plan for their workers, and 56 percent of Maine workersparticipate in a plan.

The state also is one of the Northeast states with a highconcentration of workers aged 45–64. Fewer than 5 percent of itsworkers are Hispanic.