Changes in Unemployment Rate by State

From: WalletHub

December’s jobs report showed a slowdown in growth. The economy gained 223,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, down from 256,000 the previous month. In December, there were notable gains in sectors including leisure and hospitality, health care, construction and social assistance.

Now, the U.S. unemployment rate sits at 3.5%. We have come a long way from the nearly historic high of 14.7% in April 2020, due to a combination of vaccinations and states removing restrictions. However, inflation and the potential of a recession threaten to push the unemployment rate higher again if Federal Reserve rate increases are not able to stave them off.

In order to take stock of how unemployment rates are changing throughout the U.S., WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on six key metrics that compare unemployment rate statistics from the latest month for which data is available (December 2022) to key dates in 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019.

Change in Unemployment (2022 December vs 2022 November)

Biggest Decrease

• 1. Maryland
• 2. Colorado
• 3. Montana
• 4. New Mexico
• 5. Florida

Smallest Decrease

• 47. New Hampshire
• 48. Nevada
• 49. Louisiana
• 50. Vermont
• 51. Minnesota

Change in Unemployment (2022 December vs 2021 December)

Biggest Decrease

• 1. New Mexico
• 2. New Jersey
• 3. Missouri
• 4. California
• 5. Massachusetts

Smallest Decrease

• 47. Oregon
• 48. Nebraska
• 49. Arkansas
• 50. Indiana
• 51. Oklahoma

Change in Unemployment (2022 December vs 2020 December)

Biggest Decrease

• 1. Hawaii
• 2. Florida
• 3. Massachusetts
• 4. California
• 5. North Dakota

Smallest Decrease

• 47. Idaho
• 48. Delaware
• 49. Kentucky
• 50. Maine
• 51. Nebraska

Change in Unemployment (2022 December vs 2019 December)

Biggest Decrease

• 1. Minnesota
• 2. Louisiana
• 3. Mississippi
• 4. New Mexico
• 5. Montana

Smallest Decrease

• 47. Illinois
• 48. Colorado
• 49. Nevada
• 50. Oregon
• 51. Hawaii

Unemployment Rate (December 2022)

Lowest Rate

• 1. Utah
• T-2. North Dakota
• T-2. South Dakota
• T-4. Florida
• T-4. Minnesota

Highest Rate

• 47. Delaware
• 48. Oregon
• T-49. District of Columbia
• T-49. Illinois
• 51. Nevada

Best State vs. Worst State: 2x Difference

Utah vs. Nevada

In order to examine changes in unemployment rates throughout the U.S., WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two categories. In the first category, we compared the change in unemployment for the latest month for which we had data (December 2022) to November 2022, December 2021, December 2020 and December 2019, in order to show the impact since the beginning of the pandemic and the recent changes in the job market amid high inflation. We also compared not seasonally adjusted continued claims in December 2022 to November 2022. In the second category, we looked at the state’s overall unemployment rate. We then used the average of those categories to rank-order the states.