The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each US state as of February 2019, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Four states, Iowa, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Vermont are the only states with an unemployment rate below 2.5 percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, a tie between Iowa, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Vermont, and the state with the highest, Alaska, is 4.1 percentage points (same as last month, but down from 4.4 last year). Iowa and New Hampshire had the lowest rate last month while Hawaii had the lowest rate last year. Alaska had the highest rate in both time periods.
- Alaska has 2.71 times the unemployment rate that each of Iowa, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Vermont do. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was the same as last month but down from 2.91 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 3.75 (same as last month, but down from 4.00 last year) and the mean 3.71 (down from 3.72 the previous month and down from 3.90 last year).
- Twenty-five states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, 15 saw an improvement, and 10 states saw their rate increase.
- Five states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from last year, while 37 saw an improvement over the prior year's rate, and eight saw their unemployment rate increase over the year.
Caveats
- Data is from February 2019.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
All 15 states whose unemployment rate decreased saw a decrease of 0.1 percentage points while all ten states whose unemployment rate rose saw an increase of 0.1 percentage points. Connecticut had the greatest improvement from last year dropping its rate 0.7 percentage points. Colorado had the greatest deterioration from last year raising its rate 0.8 percentage points.
Thirty-four states have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 32 last month and up from 24 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. The remaining 16 have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 18 last month and down from 26 last year).
Data
| State | Previous Rate | Latest Rate | Change (Percentage Points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 3.8 | 3.7 | -0.1 |
| Alaska | 6.5 | 6.5 | 0 |
| Arizona | 5.1 | 5.1 | 0 |
| Arkansas | 3.7 | 3.8 | 0.1 |
| California | 4.2 | 4.2 | 0 |
| Colorado | 3.7 | 3.7 | 0 |
| Connecticut | 3.8 | 3.8 | 0 |
| Delaware | 3.5 | 3.4 | -0.1 |
| Florida | 3.4 | 3.5 | 0.1 |
| Georgia | 3.8 | 3.9 | 0.1 |
| Hawaii | 2.7 | 2.7 | 0 |
| Idaho | 2.8 | 2.9 | 0.1 |
| Illinois | 4.3 | 4.3 | 0 |
| Indiana | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0 |
| Iowa | 2.4 | 2.4 | 0 |
| Kansas | 3.4 | 3.4 | 0 |
| Kentucky | 4.2 | 4.1 | -0.1 |
| Louisiana | 4.9 | 4.9 | 0 |
| Maine | 3.5 | 3.4 | -0.1 |
| Maryland | 3.7 | 3.7 | 0 |
| Massachusetts | 3.1 | 3 | -0.1 |
| Michigan | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 3 | 3.1 | 0.1 |
| Mississippi | 4.7 | 4.8 | 0.1 |
| Missouri | 3.2 | 3.2 | 0 |
| Montana | 3.8 | 3.8 | 0 |
| Nebraska | 2.8 | 2.8 | 0 |
| Nevada | 4.4 | 4.3 | -0.1 |
| New Hampshire | 2.4 | 2.4 | 0 |
| New Jersey | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| New Mexico | 5.1 | 5.1 | 0 |
| New York | 3.9 | 3.9 | 0 |
| North Carolina | 3.8 | 3.9 | 0.1 |
| North Dakota | 2.5 | 2.4 | -0.1 |
| Ohio | 4.7 | 4.6 | -0.1 |
| Oklahoma | 3.2 | 3.3 | 0.1 |
| Oregon | 4.3 | 4.4 | 0.1 |
| Pennsylvania | 4.1 | 4 | -0.1 |
| Rhode Island | 4 | 3.9 | -0.1 |
| South Carolina | 3.2 | 3.2 | 0 |
| South Dakota | 2.9 | 2.9 | 0 |
| Tennessee | 3.3 | 3.2 | -0.1 |
| Texas | 3.8 | 3.8 | 0 |
| Utah | 3.1 | 3 | -0.1 |
| Vermont | 2.5 | 2.4 | -0.1 |
| Virginia | 2.8 | 2.9 | 0.1 |
| Washington | 4.5 | 4.5 | 0 |
| West Virginia | 5.2 | 5.2 | 0 |
| Wisconsin | 3 | 2.9 | -0.1 |
| Wyoming | 4 | 3.9 | -0.1 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed April 10, 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.