The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each US state as of June 2021, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Four states have an unemployment rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Nebraska, and the states with the highest, Connecticut and New Mexico, is 5.40 percentage points (down from 5.50 last month and down from 11.00 last year). Nebraska had the lowest rate last month while Maine had the lowest rate last year. Connecticut had the highest rate last month while New Jersey had the highest rate last year.
- Connecticut and New Mexico have 3.16 times the unemployment rate that Nebraska does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was up from 3.12 last month and up from 3.08 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 4.95 (down from 5.00 last month and down from 9.50 last year) and the mean 5.17 (down from 5.20 the previous month and down from 9.87 last year).
- Of the 50 states, 16 saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 20 saw an improvement, and 14 saw the rate increase.
- Of the 50 states, 0 saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, 50 saw an improvement over the prior year's rate, and 0 saw the unemployment rate increase over the year.
Caveats
- Data is from June 2021.
- Data may conflict with previous month's report as statistical agencies make updates to the rates over the course of the month.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
In absolute terms, Hawaii had the best performance over the previous month dropping 0.3 percentage points. Kansas and Ohio had the worst performance with an increase of 0.2 percentage points in the unemployment rate. Year over year, Massachusetts had the best performance with a 9.9 percentage point drop while Maine had the worst performance with a 0.5 percentage point drop in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Oklahoma had the best performance over the previous month with a 5.13% drop in the rate while Kansas had the worst performance with an 5.71% rise in the rate. Year over year, New Hampshire had the best performance with a 71.84% drop in the rate while Maine had the worst performance with a 9.43% drop in the rate.
Of the 50 states, 11 have an unemployment rate below four percent (down from 12 last month, up from 0 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Of the 50, 39 have a rate between four and eight percent (up from 37 last month, up from 15 last year), and 0 has a rate above eight percent (down from 1 last month, down from 35 last year).
Georgia (from 16th lowest unemployment rate to 12th lowest) and Hawaii (from 49th to 45th) rose 4 spots between last month and this. On the other hand, Indiana (from 13th to 16th) and Ohio (from 25th to 28th) fell 3 spots. Year-over-year, New Hampshire (from 30th to 3rd) rose 27 spots. Conversely, Maine (from 1st to 23rd) and New Mexico (from 27th to 49th) fell 22 spots.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 7.7 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Alaska | 11.3 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| Arizona | 10.7 | 6.7 | 6.8 |
| Arkansas | 7.8 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| California | 14.1 | 7.7 | 7.7 |
| Colorado | 11.3 | 6.2 | 6.2 |
| Connecticut | 11.4 | 8.1 | 7.9 |
| Delaware | 12.9 | 5.9 | 5.8 |
| Florida | 11.6 | 4.9 | 5 |
| Georgia | 8.4 | 4.1 | 4 |
| Hawaii | 14.1 | 8 | 7.7 |
| Idaho | 7 | 3 | 3 |
| Illinois | 14.2 | 7.1 | 7.2 |
| Indiana | 10.1 | 4 | 4.1 |
| Iowa | 7.1 | 3.9 | 4 |
| Kansas | 7 | 3.5 | 3.7 |
| Kentucky | 5.7 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Louisiana | 9.4 | 7.1 | 6.9 |
| Maine | 5.3 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
| Maryland | 8.6 | 6.1 | 6.2 |
| Massachusetts | 14.8 | 5 | 4.9 |
| Michigan | 14.1 | 5 | 5 |
| Minnesota | 8.9 | 4 | 4 |
| Mississippi | 9.6 | 6.1 | 6.2 |
| Missouri | 8.1 | 4.2 | 4.3 |
| Montana | 7.6 | 3.6 | 3.7 |
| Nebraska | 6.6 | 2.6 | 2.5 |
| Nevada | 15.4 | 7.8 | 7.8 |
| New Hampshire | 10.3 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| New Jersey | 16.3 | 7.2 | 7.3 |
| New Mexico | 9.8 | 7.9 | 7.9 |
| New York | 15 | 7.8 | 7.7 |
| North Carolina | 8.8 | 4.8 | 4.6 |
| North Dakota | 6.2 | 4 | 4 |
| Ohio | 10.3 | 5 | 5.2 |
| Oklahoma | 8.2 | 3.9 | 3.7 |
| Oregon | 10.3 | 5.8 | 5.6 |
| Pennsylvania | 13.3 | 7 | 6.9 |
| Rhode Island | 10.9 | 6 | 5.9 |
| South Carolina | 7.7 | 4.6 | 4.5 |
| South Dakota | 6.1 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
| Tennessee | 9.3 | 5 | 4.9 |
| Texas | 10.2 | 6.6 | 6.5 |
| Utah | 6.3 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Vermont | 7.7 | 3 | 3.1 |
| Virginia | 8.8 | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| Washington | 10.8 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| West Virginia | 10.5 | 5.5 | 5.3 |
| Wisconsin | 8.6 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| Wyoming | 7.4 | 5.4 | 5.4 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2021. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed August 9, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.