The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each US state as of November 2021, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Nine 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, California, is 5.10 percentage points (down from 5.40 last month and down from 6.90 last year). Nebraska had the lowest rate last month and the lowest rate last year. California had the highest rate last month and Hawaii had the highest rate last year.
- California has 3.83 times the unemployment rate that Nebraska does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 3.84 last month and up from 3.03 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 4.15 (down from 4.35 last month and down from 5.70 last year) and the mean 4.33 (down from 4.57 the previous month and down from 6.16 last year).
- Of the 50 states, 1 saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 48 saw an improvement, and 1 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 November 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, Arizona and Mississippi had the best performance over the previous month dropping 0.5 percentage points. Massachusetts had the worst performance with an increase of 0.1 percentage points in the unemployment rate. Year over year, Hawaii had the best performance with a 4.3 percentage point drop while Maine had the worst performance with a 0.1 percentage point drop in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Wyoming had the best performance over the previous month with a 9.76% drop in the rate while Massachusetts had the worst performance with an 1.89% rise in the rate. Year over year, Georgia had the best performance with a 50.00% drop in the rate while Maine had the worst performance with a 2.04% drop in the rate.
Of the 50 states, 22 have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 20 last month, up from 5 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Of the 50, 28 have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 30 last month, down from 35 last year), and 0 have a rate above eight percent (same as 0 last month, down from 10 last year).
Mississippi (from 38th lowest unemployment rate to 32nd lowest) rose 6 spots between last month and this. On the other hand, Massachusetts (from 32nd to 38th) fell 6 spots. Year-over-year, Georgia (from 21st to 8th) and West Virginia (from 36th to 23rd) rose 13 spots. Conversely, Maine (from 15th to 30th) fell 15 spots.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 4.7 | 3.1 | 3.1 |
| Alaska | 6.5 | 6.1 | 6 |
| Arizona | 6.8 | 5.2 | 4.7 |
| Arkansas | 5.3 | 3.7 | 3.4 |
| California | 8.7 | 7.3 | 6.9 |
| Colorado | 6.9 | 5.4 | 5.1 |
| Connecticut | 8.2 | 6.4 | 6 |
| Delaware | 5.8 | 5.3 | 5.1 |
| Florida | 5.4 | 4.6 | 4.5 |
| Georgia | 5.6 | 3.1 | 2.8 |
| Hawaii | 10.3 | 6.4 | 6 |
| Idaho | 4.3 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
| Illinois | 8.1 | 6 | 5.7 |
| Indiana | 5 | 3.3 | 3 |
| Iowa | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.7 |
| Kansas | 4.7 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| Kentucky | 5.6 | 4.2 | 4.1 |
| Louisiana | 7.9 | 5.4 | 5.1 |
| Maine | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.8 |
| Maryland | 6.8 | 5.6 | 5.4 |
| Massachusetts | 8.4 | 5.3 | 5.4 |
| Michigan | 8.2 | 6.1 | 5.9 |
| Minnesota | 5 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
| Mississippi | 6.7 | 5.5 | 5 |
| Missouri | 4.7 | 3.7 | 3.5 |
| Montana | 4.5 | 3.1 | 2.8 |
| Nebraska | 3.4 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| Nevada | 8.7 | 7.2 | 6.8 |
| New Hampshire | 4.2 | 2.9 | 2.7 |
| New Jersey | 10.2 | 7 | 6.6 |
| New Mexico | 8.5 | 6.5 | 6.2 |
| New York | 8.7 | 6.9 | 6.6 |
| North Carolina | 6.4 | 4.1 | 3.9 |
| North Dakota | 4.7 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
| Ohio | 5.6 | 5.1 | 4.8 |
| Oklahoma | 4.8 | 2.7 | 2.5 |
| Oregon | 6.6 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
| Pennsylvania | 7.1 | 6 | 5.7 |
| Rhode Island | 7.9 | 5.3 | 5.1 |
| South Carolina | 5.6 | 3.9 | 3.7 |
| South Dakota | 3.6 | 2.8 | 2.7 |
| Tennessee | 5.6 | 4.2 | 4 |
| Texas | 7.2 | 5.4 | 5.2 |
| Utah | 3.5 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| Vermont | 3.7 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
| Virginia | 5.8 | 3.6 | 3.4 |
| Washington | 6.7 | 5 | 4.7 |
| West Virginia | 7 | 4.3 | 4 |
| Wisconsin | 4.4 | 3.2 | 3 |
| Wyoming | 5.3 | 4.1 | 3.7 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2021. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed January 10, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.