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Nebraska had lowest unemployment rate in May 2015, West Virginia and DC the highest
June 25, 2015
Nebraska had the lowest jobless rate in May 2015, 2.6 percent. West Virginia had the highest rate among the states, 7.2 percent. The District of Columbia had a rate of 7.3 percent. In total, 21 states had unemployment rates significantly lower than the U.S. figure of 5.5 percent. Ten states and the District of Columbia had measurably higher rates, and 19 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.
Unemployment rates by state, seasonally adjusted, May 2015
6.2% and higher
5.7% to 6.1%
4.9% to 5.6%
4.1% to 4.8%
4.0% and lower
3.8
New Hampshire
Percentage point change from May 2014: -0.6
Hover over a state to see data.
Hover over legend items to see states in a category.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Unemployment rates by state, seasonally adjusted, May 2015
State
Unemployment rate
Percentage point change from May 2014
Alabama
6.1
-0.8
Alaska
6.8
-0.1
Arizona
5.8
-1.1
Arkansas
5.7
-0.5
California
6.4
-1.2
Colorado
4.3
-0.9
Connecticut
6.0
-0.6
Delaware
4.6
-1.3
District of Columbia
7.3
-0.5
Florida
5.7
-0.6
Georgia
6.3
-1.0
Hawaii
4.1
-0.4
Idaho
3.9
-1.0
Illinois
6.0
-1.1
Indiana
5.1
-0.9
Iowa
3.8
-0.6
Kansas
4.4
-0.1
Kentucky
5.1
-1.6
Louisiana
6.6
0.7
Maine
4.7
-1.0
Maryland
5.3
-0.5
Massachusetts
4.6
-1.2
Michigan
5.5
-1.8
Minnesota
3.8
-0.3
Mississippi
6.7
-1.0
Missouri
5.8
-0.3
Montana
3.9
-0.8
Nebraska
2.6
-0.8
Nevada
7.0
-0.9
New Hampshire
3.8
-0.6
New Jersey
6.5
-0.1
New Mexico
6.2
-0.5
New York
5.7
-0.7
North Carolina
5.7
-0.6
North Dakota
3.1
0.4
Ohio
5.2
-0.5
Oklahoma
4.3
-0.3
Oregon
5.3
-1.7
Pennsylvania
5.4
-0.5
Rhode Island
5.9
-2.0
South Carolina
6.8
0.6
South Dakota
3.8
0.4
Tennessee
5.8
-0.7
Texas
4.3
-0.8
Utah
3.5
-0.2
Vermont
3.6
-0.4
Virginia
4.9
-0.3
Washington
5.4
-0.8
West Virginia
7.2
0.5
Wisconsin
4.6
-0.9
Wyoming
4.1
-0.2
Twenty-four states had statistically significant unemployment rate declines from May 2014; the largest occurred in Rhode Island (−2.0 percentage points). The only significant over-the-year rate increase occurred in North Dakota (+0.4 percentage point). The remaining 25 states and the District of Columbia had rates that were not appreciably different from a year earlier. The national jobless rate in May 2015 was 0.8 percentage point lower than in May 2014.
These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. Data for the most recent month are preliminary and may be revised. The data are seasonally adjusted. For more information, see “Regional and State Employment and Unemployment—May 2015” (HTML) (PDF).
United States Department of Labor
