List of female state governors in the United States

     Female Republican Governor(s)      Female Democratic Governor(s)      Female Republican and Democratic Governors

Thirty-two women have been or are currently serving as the governor of a U.S. state and one from the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The first female governor was Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming who was elected on November 4, 1924 and sworn in on January 5, 1925. She was preceded in office by her late husband William B. Ross. Also elected on November 4 was Miriam A. Ferguson of Texas, succeeding her impeached husband James Edward Ferguson, but she was not sworn in until January 20, 1925. The first female governor elected without being the wife or widow of a past state governor was Ella T. Grasso of Connecticut, elected in 1974 and sworn in on January 8, 1975.

Connecticut and Arizona are the only two states to have elected female governors from both major parties. New Hampshire has also had female governors from two parties, but Republican Vesta M. Roy served only in the acting capacity for a short time. Arizona was the first state where a woman followed another woman as governor (they were from different parties). Arizona also has had the most female governors with a total of four, and is the first state to have three women in a row serve as governor.

Six women are currently serving as governors of U.S. states. Previously, there were a record nine women serving as chief executive of their states on two different occasions: first, between December 6, 2006, when Sarah Palin was inaugurated as the first female governor of Alaska, and January 14, 2008, when Kathleen Blanco left office as governor of Louisiana, and second, between January 10, 2009, when Beverly Perdue was inaugurated as governor of North Carolina, and January 20, 2009, when Ruth Ann Minner retired as governor of Delaware.

The U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, though not states, have also had female chief executives, Governor Sila Maria Calderon and Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly respectively.

List of Female State/Territory Governors

States that have never had a female governor

A total of 27 states have never had a female governor. Those states are:

Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin

Women who have held other Governor-equivalent positions

Timeline of female U.S. Governors