The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each US state as of June 2020, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. The unemployment rate has dropped dramatically in most states resulting in 15 states with an unemployment rate below eight percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Kentucky, and the state with the highest, Massachusetts, is 13.10 percentage points (down from 20.00 last month and up from 3.80 last year). Nebraska had the lowest rate last month while North Dakota and Vermont had the lowest rate last year. Nevada had the highest rate last month while Alaska had the highest rate last year.
- Massachusetts has 4.05 times the unemployment rate that Kentucky does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 4.77 last month and up from 2.58 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 9.05 (down from 12.20 last month and up from 3.45 last year) and the mean 9.86 (down from 12.42 the previous month and up from 3.57 last year).
- Zero states saw no change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, 43 saw an improvement, and seven saw their rate increase.
- One state saw no change in its unemployment rate from last year, while zero saw an improvement over the prior year's rate, and 49 saw their unemployment rate increase over the year.
Caveats
- Data is from June 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, Nevada had the best performance over the previous month dropping 10.3 percentage points. Nebraska had the worst performance with an increase of 1.4 percentage points in the unemployment rate. Year over year, Kentucky had the best performance with a 0.0 percentage point change while Massachusetts had the worst performance with a 14.5 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Kentucky had the best performance over the previous month with a 16.55% drop in its rate while Nebraska had the worst performance with an 26.42% rise in its rate. Year over year, Kentucky had the best performance with a 0.00% change in its rate while Massachusetts had the worst performance with a 500.00% rise in its rate.
Zero states have an unemployment rate below four percent (same as zero last month, down from 36 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Eighteen have a rate between four and eight percent (up from one last month, up from 14 last year), and 32 have a rate above eight percent (down from 49 last month, up from zero last year).
Oklahoma (from 28th lowest unemployment rate to 5th lowest) bested 23 states between last month and this. On the other hand, Arizona (from 4th to 31st) was bested by 27 states. Year-over-year, Kentucky (from 42nd to 1st) surpassed 41 states. Conversely, Massachusetts (from 9th to 50th) was surpassed by 41 states.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2.9 | 9.6 | 7.5 |
| Alaska | 6.2 | 12.7 | 12.4 |
| Arizona | 4.8 | 9 | 10 |
| Arkansas | 3.6 | 9.6 | 8 |
| California | 4 | 16.4 | 14.9 |
| Colorado | 2.7 | 10.2 | 10.5 |
| Connecticut | 3.7 | 9.6 | 9.8 |
| Delaware | 3.7 | 15.9 | 12.5 |
| Florida | 3.2 | 13.7 | 10.4 |
| Georgia | 3.5 | 9.4 | 7.6 |
| Hawaii | 2.7 | 23.5 | 13.9 |
| Idaho | 2.9 | 9 | 5.6 |
| Illinois | 4 | 15.3 | 14.6 |
| Indiana | 3.3 | 12.3 | 11.2 |
| Iowa | 2.7 | 10.2 | 8 |
| Kansas | 3.1 | 10 | 7.5 |
| Kentucky | 4.3 | 10.9 | 4.3 |
| Louisiana | 4.6 | 14.2 | 9.7 |
| Maine | 2.9 | 9.4 | 6.6 |
| Maryland | 3.6 | 10 | 8 |
| Massachusetts | 2.9 | 16.6 | 17.4 |
| Michigan | 4.2 | 21.3 | 14.8 |
| Minnesota | 3.2 | 9.9 | 8.6 |
| Mississippi | 5.4 | 10.5 | 8.7 |
| Missouri | 3.1 | 10.1 | 7.9 |
| Montana | 3.5 | 9 | 7.1 |
| Nebraska | 3.1 | 5.3 | 6.7 |
| Nevada | 3.9 | 25.3 | 15 |
| New Hampshire | 2.5 | 15.4 | 11.8 |
| New Jersey | 3.3 | 15.4 | 16.6 |
| New Mexico | 4.9 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| New York | 3.9 | 14.5 | 15.7 |
| North Carolina | 4 | 12.8 | 7.6 |
| North Dakota | 2.4 | 9.1 | 6.1 |
| Ohio | 4.1 | 13.9 | 10.9 |
| Oklahoma | 3.2 | 12.6 | 6.6 |
| Oregon | 3.8 | 14.3 | 11.2 |
| Pennsylvania | 4.3 | 13.4 | 13 |
| Rhode Island | 3.6 | 16.4 | 12.4 |
| South Carolina | 2.9 | 12.4 | 8.7 |
| South Dakota | 3.3 | 9.4 | 7.2 |
| Tennessee | 3.4 | 11 | 9.7 |
| Texas | 3.4 | 13 | 8.6 |
| Utah | 2.6 | 8.6 | 5.1 |
| Vermont | 2.4 | 12.8 | 9.4 |
| Virginia | 2.8 | 9 | 8.4 |
| Washington | 4.3 | 15.1 | 9.8 |
| West Virginia | 4.7 | 12.9 | 10.4 |
| Wisconsin | 3.4 | 12.1 | 8.5 |
| Wyoming | 3.6 | 8.8 | 7.6 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2020. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed August 11, 2020. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.