The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each US state as of March 2021, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Four states have an unemployment rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the states with the lowest unemployment rate, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, and Vermont, and the state with the highest, Hawaii, is 6.10 percentage points (down from 6.20 last month and up from 4.30 last year). South Dakota, Utah, and Vermont had the lowest rate last month while Hawaii had the lowest rate last year. Hawaii had the highest rate last month while Nevada had the highest rate last year.
- Hawaii has 3.10 times the unemployment rate that Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, and Vermont do. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was up from 3.07 last month and up from 3.05 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 5.10 (down from 5.20 last month and up from 3.75 last year) and the mean 5.46 (down from 5.60 the previous month and up from 3.88 last year).
- Of the 50 states, 11 saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 37 saw an improvement, and 2 saw the rate increase.
- Of the 50 states, 2 saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, 3 saw an improvement over the prior year's rate, and 45 saw the unemployment rate increase over the year.
Caveats
- Data is from March 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, North Carolina had the best performance over the previous month dropping 0.5 percentage points. Delaware had the worst performance with an increase of 0.2 percentage points in the unemployment rate. Year over year, Florida, Nebraska, and Ohio had the best performance with a 0.2 percentage point drop while Hawaii had the worst performance with a 6.9 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, New Hampshire had the best performance over the previous month with a 9.09% drop in the rate while Delaware had the worst performance with an 3.17% rise in the rate. Year over year, Nebraska had the best performance with a 6.45% drop in the rate while Hawaii had the worst performance with a 328.57% rise in the rate.
Of the 50 states, 12 have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 10 last month, down from 31 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Of the 50, 32 have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 34 last month, up from 19 last year), and 6 have a rate above eight percent (same as 6 last month, up from 0 last year).
Nebraska (from 4th lowest unemployment rate to 1rd lowest) and Ohio (from 22nd to 19th) rose 3 spots between last month and this. On the other hand, Maine (from 18th to 21st) fell 3 spots. Year-over-year, Florida (from 38th to 19th) and Ohio (from 38th to 19th) rose 19 spots. Conversely, Hawaii (from 1st to 50th) fell 49 spots.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2.6 | 4 | 3.8 |
| Alaska | 5.1 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| Arizona | 5 | 6.9 | 6.7 |
| Arkansas | 3.9 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| California | 4.5 | 8.5 | 8.3 |
| Colorado | 4.7 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| Connecticut | 3.8 | 8.5 | 8.3 |
| Delaware | 4.8 | 6.3 | 6.5 |
| Florida | 4.9 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| Georgia | 3.6 | 4.8 | 4.5 |
| Hawaii | 2.1 | 9.2 | 9 |
| Idaho | 2.7 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
| Illinois | 3.7 | 7.4 | 7.1 |
| Indiana | 3.3 | 4 | 3.9 |
| Iowa | 2.9 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Kansas | 3.2 | 3.8 | 3.7 |
| Kentucky | 4.2 | 5.2 | 5 |
| Louisiana | 5.3 | 7.6 | 7.3 |
| Maine | 3.1 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
| Maryland | 3.5 | 6.2 | 6.2 |
| Massachusetts | 2.7 | 7 | 6.8 |
| Michigan | 3.7 | 5.2 | 5.1 |
| Minnesota | 3.5 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
| Mississippi | 6 | 6.3 | 6.3 |
| Missouri | 3.7 | 4.3 | 4.2 |
| Montana | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
| Nebraska | 3.1 | 3.1 | 2.9 |
| Nevada | 6.4 | 8.4 | 8.1 |
| New Hampshire | 2.7 | 3.3 | 3 |
| New Jersey | 3.8 | 7.8 | 7.7 |
| New Mexico | 5.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| New York | 3.9 | 8.9 | 8.5 |
| North Carolina | 3.9 | 5.7 | 5.2 |
| North Dakota | 2.3 | 4.8 | 4.4 |
| Ohio | 4.9 | 5 | 4.7 |
| Oklahoma | 3.2 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
| Oregon | 3.6 | 6.1 | 6 |
| Pennsylvania | 5.1 | 7.4 | 7.3 |
| Rhode Island | 4 | 7.3 | 7.1 |
| South Carolina | 3 | 5.2 | 5.1 |
| South Dakota | 2.9 | 3 | 2.9 |
| Tennessee | 4 | 4.9 | 5 |
| Texas | 4.9 | 6.9 | 6.9 |
| Utah | 2.5 | 3 | 2.9 |
| Vermont | 2.6 | 3 | 2.9 |
| Virginia | 2.6 | 5.2 | 5.1 |
| Washington | 5.3 | 5.6 | 5.4 |
| West Virginia | 5.3 | 6.2 | 5.9 |
| Wisconsin | 3.2 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Wyoming | 5.1 | 5.3 | 5.3 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2021. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed May 17, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.