The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each US state as of October 2020, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. The unemployment rate continues to drop in most states resulting in 42 states with an unemployment rate below eight percent, and four with a rate below four percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Nebraska, and the state with the highest, Hawaii, is 11.30 percentage points (down from 11.40 last month and up from 3.70 last year). Nebraska had the lowest rate last month while North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, and Vermont had the lowest rate last year. Hawaii had the highest rate last month while Alaska had the highest rate last year.
- Hawaii has 4.77 times the unemployment rate that Nebraska does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was up from 4.17 last month and up from 2.54 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 6.05 (down from 6.70 last month and up from 3.45 last year) and the mean 6.33 (down from 7.21 the previous month and up from 3.54 last year).
- Of the 50 states, one saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 39 saw an improvement, and 10 saw the rate increase.
- Of the 50 states, one saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, while one saw an improvement over the prior year's rate, and 48 saw the unemployment rate increase over the year.
Caveats
- Data is from October 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, Illinois had the best performance over the previous month dropping 3.6 percentage points. Kentucky had the worst performance with an increase of 1.8 percentage points in the unemployment rate. Year over year, Alaska had the best performance with a 0.2 percentage point drop while Hawaii had the worst performance with a 11.6 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Michigan had the best performance over the previous month with a 36.05% drop in its rate while Kentucky had the worst performance with an 32.14% rise in its rate. Year over year, Alaska had the best performance with a 3.28% drop in its rate while Hawaii had the worst performance with a 429.63% rise in its rate.
Four states have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 1 last month, down from 39 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Thirty-nine have a rate between four and eight percent (up from 34 last month, up from 11 last year), and seven have a rate above eight percent (down from 15 last month, up from 0 last year).
Michigan (from 41st lowest unemployment rate to 17th lowest) bested 24 states between last month and this. On the other hand, Kentucky (from 12th to 38th) was bested by 26 states. Year-over-year, Alaska (from 50th to 24th) surpassed 26 states. Conversely, Hawaii (from 7th to 50th) was surpassed by 43 states.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2.7 | 6.7 | 5.8 |
| Alaska | 6.1 | 7.2 | 5.9 |
| Arizona | 4.5 | 6.5 | 8 |
| Arkansas | 3.5 | 7.2 | 6.2 |
| California | 3.9 | 11.1 | 9.3 |
| Colorado | 2.5 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| Connecticut | 3.8 | 7.7 | 6.1 |
| Delaware | 4 | 8.3 | 5.6 |
| Florida | 2.9 | 7.2 | 6.5 |
| Georgia | 3.2 | 6.3 | 4.5 |
| Hawaii | 2.7 | 15 | 14.3 |
| Idaho | 2.9 | 6.1 | 5.5 |
| Illinois | 3.7 | 10.4 | 6.8 |
| Indiana | 3.2 | 6.3 | 5 |
| Iowa | 2.8 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| Kansas | 3.1 | 5.9 | 5.3 |
| Kentucky | 4.3 | 5.6 | 7.4 |
| Louisiana | 5.2 | 8 | 9.4 |
| Maine | 3 | 6.1 | 5.4 |
| Maryland | 3.4 | 7.6 | 7.8 |
| Massachusetts | 2.8 | 9.8 | 7.4 |
| Michigan | 3.9 | 8.6 | 5.5 |
| Minnesota | 3.3 | 5.9 | 4.6 |
| Mississippi | 5.6 | 7.2 | 7.4 |
| Missouri | 3.4 | 4.8 | 4.6 |
| Montana | 3.5 | 5.4 | 4.9 |
| Nebraska | 3 | 3.6 | 3 |
| Nevada | 3.7 | 12.5 | 12 |
| New Hampshire | 2.6 | 5.8 | 4.2 |
| New Jersey | 3.7 | 6.7 | 8.2 |
| New Mexico | 4.8 | 9.9 | 8.1 |
| New York | 3.9 | 9.7 | 9.6 |
| North Carolina | 3.7 | 7.2 | 6.3 |
| North Dakota | 2.4 | 4.4 | 4.8 |
| Ohio | 4.1 | 8.3 | 5.6 |
| Oklahoma | 3.4 | 5.4 | 6.1 |
| Oregon | 3.4 | 7.9 | 6.9 |
| Pennsylvania | 4.6 | 8.3 | 7.3 |
| Rhode Island | 3.5 | 10.5 | 7 |
| South Carolina | 2.4 | 5.2 | 4.2 |
| South Dakota | 3.4 | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| Tennessee | 3.3 | 6.5 | 7.4 |
| Texas | 3.5 | 8.3 | 6.9 |
| Utah | 2.4 | 5 | 4.1 |
| Vermont | 2.4 | 4.3 | 3.2 |
| Virginia | 2.7 | 6.2 | 5.3 |
| Washington | 4 | 8.3 | 6 |
| West Virginia | 5.1 | 8.6 | 6.4 |
| Wisconsin | 3.5 | 5.4 | 5.7 |
| Wyoming | 3.7 | 6.1 | 5.5 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2020. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed December 9, 2020. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.