The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each US state as of February 2020, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. North Dakota and Vermont are the only states that have an unemployment rate below 2.5 percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, North Dakota, and the state with the highest, Alaska, is 3.60 percentage points (down from 3.70 last month and down from 3.80 last year). North Dakota had the lowest rate last month while North Dakota and Vermont had the lowest rate last year. Alaska had the highest rate in both time periods.
- Alaska has 2.64 times the unemployment rate that North Dakota does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was up from 2.61 last month and down from 2.65 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 3.40 (down from 3.45 last month and down from 3.50 last year) and the mean 3.48 (down from 3.51 the previous month and down from 3.67 last year).
- Thirty states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, 16 saw an improvement, and four saw their rate increase.
- Five states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from last year, while 32 saw an improvement over the prior year's rate, and 13 saw their unemployment rate increase over the year.
Caveats
- Data is from February 2020.
- 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, Alaska and Michigan had the greatest improvement over the previous month dropping 0.2 percentage points. Connecticut, Maine, South Carolina, and Tennessee had the greatest deterioration with an increase of 0.1 percentage points in the unemployment rate. Year over year, Illinois, Oregon, and South Carolina had the greatest improvement with a 0.9 percentage point drop while Louisiana and Pennsylvania had the greatest deterioration with a 0.6 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Michigan had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 5.26% drop in its rate while South Carolina had the biggest deterioration with a 4.17% rise in its rate. Year over year, South Carolina had the greatest improvement with a 26.47% drop in its rate while Pennsylvania had the greatest deterioration with a 14.63% rise in its rate.
Forty-one states have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 40 last month, up from 33 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Nine have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 10 last month, down from 17 last year), and zero have a rate above eight percent (same as last month and last year).
Minnesota (from 19th lowest unemployment rate to 15th lowest) and Michigan (from 36th to 32nd) bested four states between last month and this. On the other hand, Maine (from 19th to 24th) and Tennessee (from 20th to 24th) were bested by four states. Year-over-year, Illinois (from 42nd to 24th) surpassed 18 states. Conversely, Delaware (from 22nd to 40th) was surpassed by 18 states.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 3.5 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Alaska | 6.1 | 6 | 5.8 |
| Arizona | 4.9 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Arkansas | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| California | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| Colorado | 3.1 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Connecticut | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.8 |
| Delaware | 3.5 | 4 | 3.9 |
| Florida | 3.4 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Georgia | 3.7 | 3.1 | 3.1 |
| Hawaii | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Idaho | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.7 |
| Illinois | 4.3 | 3.5 | 3.4 |
| Indiana | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.1 |
| Iowa | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Kansas | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3.1 |
| Kentucky | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.2 |
| Louisiana | 4.6 | 5.3 | 5.2 |
| Maine | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Maryland | 3.7 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| Massachusetts | 3.1 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Michigan | 4.2 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| Minnesota | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| Mississippi | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.4 |
| Missouri | 3.2 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Montana | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Nebraska | 3.1 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Nevada | 4.1 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| New Hampshire | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.6 |
| New Jersey | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| New Mexico | 5 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
| New York | 4 | 3.8 | 3.7 |
| North Carolina | 4.1 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| North Dakota | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.2 |
| Ohio | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| Oklahoma | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
| Oregon | 4.2 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| Pennsylvania | 4.1 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| Rhode Island | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| South Carolina | 3.4 | 2.4 | 2.5 |
| South Dakota | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Tennessee | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| Texas | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Utah | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Vermont | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| Virginia | 3 | 2.7 | 2.6 |
| Washington | 4.5 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
| West Virginia | 4.8 | 5 | 4.9 |
| Wisconsin | 3.2 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Wyoming | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2020. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed April 14, 2020. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.