Unemployment Rates Vary Widely Among U.S. States

Unemployment rates among the nation’s 50 states varied widely, with a span of 380 basis points (bps) between the best and the worst as of December 2024. Twenty-nine states had jobless rate increases from a year earlier, 11 states had decreases and 10 states had little (less than 10 bps) or no change. Although unemployment for the nation overall has risen recently, rates have improved dramatically since reaching a peak during the COVID-19 pandemic of 14.8% in April 2020, which was the worst reading since the Great Depression. Most recently, the U.S. average unemployment rate rose 30 basis points year-over-year to 4.1% in December, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among U.S. states, the largest surge in unemployment from December 2023 to December 2024 was in South Carolina with the rate jumping 170 bps, while the deepest decline of 120 bps was in Connecticut. Sixteen states had December unemployment rates that exceeded the U.S. average by more than 10 bps, with Nevada and California posting the highest rates in December, at 5.7% and 5.5%, respectively. Thirty states had rates below the national norm. South Dakota recorded the lowest unemployment rate in December at 1.9%, with the second-lowest rate of 2.4% in Vermont. Four states, Massachusetts (4.1%), Oregon (4.1%), Texas (4.2%) and West Virginia (4.2%) matched or were within 10 bps of the U.S. average.