The .gov means it's official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information,
make sure you're on a federal government site.
The site is secure. The
https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any
information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Three states had unemployment rates above 10 percent in November 2020
December 29, 2020
Three states had unemployment rates above 10.0 percent in November 2020: New Jersey at 10.2 percent and Hawaii and Nevada at 10.1 percent each. Nebraska and Vermont had the lowest rates, 3.1 percent each. In total, 26 states had jobless rates lower than the U.S. figure of 6.7 percent, 11 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates, and 13 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.
State unemployment rates and number of unemployed people, November 2020
State
Unemployment rate, November 2020
Number of unemployed people, November 2020
Number of unemployed people, November 2019
Net change in unemployed people, November 2019 to November 2020
New Jersey
10.2%
462,645
168,168
294,477
Nevada
10.1
153,379
57,032
96,347
Hawaii
10.1
66,426
17,666
48,760
New York
8.4
771,153
371,213
399,940
Louisiana
8.3
173,970
109,331
64,639
California
8.2
1,542,117
753,741
788,376
Connecticut
8.2
154,627
72,373
82,254
Texas
8.1
1,153,252
496,337
656,915
Alaska
8.1
28,757
21,238
7,519
Arizona
7.8
280,541
163,112
117,429
New Mexico
7.5
69,179
45,680
23,499
District of Columbia
7.5
30,000
21,843
8,157
Rhode Island
7.3
39,218
19,296
19,922
Illinois
6.9
425,937
235,583
190,354
Michigan
6.9
341,839
190,354
151,485
Maryland
6.8
212,833
111,898
100,935
Massachusetts
6.7
241,109
106,510
134,599
Pennsylvania
6.6
418,383
304,070
114,313
Florida
6.4
651,129
296,723
354,406
Colorado
6.4
199,318
80,143
119,175
Mississippi
6.4
81,608
71,296
10,312
North Carolina
6.2
308,905
185,638
123,267
Arkansas
6.2
82,860
48,190
34,670
West Virginia
6.2
47,558
40,794
6,764
Washington
6.0
229,465
158,520
70,945
Oregon
6.0
126,756
71,088
55,668
Oklahoma
5.9
109,364
62,123
47,241
Georgia
5.7
296,199
161,210
134,989
Ohio
5.7
324,109
236,970
87,139
Kansas
5.6
86,209
46,906
39,303
Kentucky
5.6
112,098
90,300
21,798
Tennessee
5.3
182,340
111,587
70,753
Delaware
5.1
24,418
19,448
4,970
Wyoming
5.1
15,005
10,828
4,177
Indiana
5.0
167,979
107,503
60,476
Wisconsin
5.0
156,549
107,600
48,949
Maine
5.0
33,515
20,631
12,884
Virginia
4.9
208,155
118,434
89,721
Montana
4.9
26,565
18,739
7,826
Idaho
4.8
43,814
25,377
18,437
North Dakota
4.5
17,936
9,639
8,297
South Carolina
4.4
102,186
56,712
45,474
Alabama
4.4
100,537
61,381
39,156
Minnesota
4.4
133,782
101,928
31,854
Missouri
4.4
131,215
106,453
24,762
Utah
4.3
70,878
39,509
31,369
New Hampshire
3.8
28,145
19,917
8,228
Iowa
3.6
57,875
49,397
8,478
South Dakota
3.5
15,961
15,795
166
Vermont
3.1
9,973
8,263
1,710
Nebraska
3.1
31,709
31,147
562
In November 2020, the largest unemployment rate decrease occurred in Hawaii (-4.1 percentage points). Rates declined over the month by at least 1.0 percentage point in an additional seven states. The largest over-the-month jobless rate increases occurred in Alaska and New Jersey (+2.2 percentage points each) and Connecticut (+2.1 points).
Every state had more unemployed people in November 2020 than in November 2019. Both California and Texas had over 1 million unemployed people in November 2020.
United States Department of Labor
