The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each US state as of February 2021, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. South Dakota is the only state with an unemployment rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, South Dakota, and the state with the highest, Hawaii, is 6.30 percentage points (down from 7.20 last month and up from 3.70 last year). South Dakota and Utah had the lowest rate last month while Hawaii had the lowest rate last year. Hawaii had the highest rate last month while Mississippi had the highest rate last year.
- Hawaii has 3.17 times the unemployment rate that South Dakota does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 3.32 last month and up from 2.76 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 5.20 (down from 5.30 last month and up from 3.60 last year) and the mean 5.58 (down from 5.73 the previous month and up from 3.63 last year).
- Of the 50 states, eight saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 34 saw an improvement, and eight saw the rate increase.
- Of the 50 states, two saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, zero saw an improvement over the prior year's rate, and 48 saw the unemployment rate increase over the year.
Caveats
- Data is from February 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 1.1 percentage points. Connecticut had the worst performance with an increase of 0.4 percentage points in the unemployment rate. Year over year, Kansas and South Dakota had the best performance with a 0.0 percentage point change while Hawaii had the worst performance with a 7.1 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Hawaii had the best performance over the previous month with a 10.68% drop in the rate while Connecticut had the worst performance with an 4.94% rise in the rate. Year over year, Kansas and South Dakota had the best performance with a 0.00% change in the rate while Hawaii had the worst performance with a 338.10% rise in the rate.
Ten states have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 9 last month, down from 36 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Thirty-four have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 35 last month, up from 14 last year), and six have a rate above eight percent (same as 6 last month, up from 0 last year).
Michigan (from 27th lowest unemployment rate to 23rd lowest) and Massachusetts (from 43rd to 39th) rose 4 spots between last month and this. On the other hand, Wyoming (from 19th to 27th) fell 8 spots. Year-over-year, Ohio (from 42nd to 22nd) rose 20 spots. Conversely, Hawaii (from 1st to 50th) fell 49 spots.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2.6 | 4.3 | 4 |
| Alaska | 5.1 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| Arizona | 4.9 | 6.7 | 6.9 |
| Arkansas | 3.8 | 4.6 | 4.5 |
| California | 4.3 | 9 | 8.5 |
| Colorado | 2.8 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| Connecticut | 3.7 | 8.1 | 8.5 |
| Delaware | 4.5 | 6.1 | 6.3 |
| Florida | 3.3 | 4.8 | 4.7 |
| Georgia | 3.5 | 5.1 | 4.8 |
| Hawaii | 2.1 | 10.3 | 9.2 |
| Idaho | 2.6 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
| Illinois | 3.6 | 7.7 | 7.4 |
| Indiana | 3.2 | 4.2 | 4 |
| Iowa | 2.9 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Kansas | 3.2 | 3.4 | 3.2 |
| Kentucky | 4.2 | 5.3 | 5.2 |
| Louisiana | 5.2 | 7.6 | 7.6 |
| Maine | 3.1 | 5.2 | 4.8 |
| Maryland | 3.5 | 6.4 | 6.2 |
| Massachusetts | 2.8 | 7.8 | 7.1 |
| Michigan | 3.7 | 5.7 | 5.2 |
| Minnesota | 3.3 | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| Mississippi | 5.8 | 6.4 | 6.3 |
| Missouri | 3.6 | 4.3 | 4.2 |
| Montana | 3.7 | 4 | 3.9 |
| Nebraska | 3 | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| Nevada | 3.7 | 8.5 | 8.3 |
| New Hampshire | 2.6 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
| New Jersey | 3.7 | 7.8 | 7.8 |
| New Mexico | 5.3 | 8.7 | 8.3 |
| New York | 3.9 | 8.8 | 8.9 |
| North Carolina | 3.6 | 5.9 | 5.7 |
| North Dakota | 2.3 | 4.5 | 4.7 |
| Ohio | 4.7 | 5.3 | 5 |
| Oklahoma | 3.1 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Oregon | 3.5 | 6.2 | 6.1 |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | 7.3 | 7.3 |
| Rhode Island | 4 | 7.2 | 7.3 |
| South Carolina | 2.8 | 5.3 | 5.2 |
| South Dakota | 2.9 | 3.1 | 2.9 |
| Tennessee | 3.9 | 5.1 | 4.9 |
| Texas | 3.7 | 6.8 | 6.9 |
| Utah | 2.5 | 3.1 | 3 |
| Vermont | 2.5 | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| Virginia | 2.5 | 5.3 | 5.2 |
| Washington | 4.1 | 6 | 5.6 |
| West Virginia | 5.1 | 6.5 | 6.2 |
| Wisconsin | 3.3 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Wyoming | 4.8 | 5.1 | 5.3 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2021. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed April 9, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.