Which states have the highest unemployment?

In August 2026 the District of Columbia had the highest unemployment rate, 5.7%, followed by California and Connecticut at 5.1%. South Dakota had the lowest at 2.0%, and the US rate was 4.1%. Rates are BLS monthly estimates for each state, seasonally adjusted.

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are in the table below.

Bars are sorted from highest to lowest and start at zero; each one's value is at its end. The dashed line is “U.S. average”, for comparison. On a phone it opens on the top and bottom 10; tap “Show all” for the rest.

Save a simple drawing of this chart for slides, essays or posts, with its question, source, date and a link back to this page. Please keep the credit.

Download image

Key facts

Measure: Percent of the labor force unemployed, seasonally adjusted. Written from the data below.

  • District of Columbia has the highest figure, 5.7%, followed by California (5.1%) and Connecticut (5.1%).
  • South Dakota has the lowest figure, 2%, followed by North Dakota (2.2%) and Vermont (2.6%).
  • The highest is 2.9 times the lowest.
  • U.S. average: 4.1%. Of the 51 compared, 21 are above it, 28 below, and 2 the same.

Source and date

Source
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “Which states have the highest unemployment?” Chart. Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/lau/ (data as of August 31, 2026). https://chart.ly/charts/unemployment-rate-by-state (accessed October 15, 2026).

Free for your article, blog or class page: paste this code where the chart should go. It shows the interactive chart with its source and a small “Chart by Chartly” credit, and stays up to date when the data changes.

The data

Download data (CSV)

The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

State Percent of the labor force unemployed, seasonally adjusted
District of Columbia 5.7
California 5.1
Connecticut 5.1
Oregon 5.1
Michigan 5
Arizona 4.9
Washington 4.9
Nevada 4.8
Delaware 4.7
Illinois 4.7
Kentucky 4.7
New Mexico 4.7
Florida 4.5
Minnesota 4.4
Texas 4.4
Alaska 4.3
Massachusetts 4.3
New Jersey 4.3
New York 4.3
Oklahoma 4.3
Louisiana 4.2
Maryland 4.1
South Carolina 4.1
U.S. average 4.1
Colorado 4
West Virginia 4
Arkansas 3.9
Kansas 3.8
Pennsylvania 3.7
Rhode Island 3.7
Idaho 3.6
Virginia 3.6
Missouri 3.5
North Carolina 3.5
Utah 3.5
Alabama 3.4
Mississippi 3.4
Tennessee 3.4
Indiana 3.3
Ohio 3.3
Georgia 3.2
Iowa 3.2
Maine 3.2
Montana 3.2
Wisconsin 3.2
Wyoming 3
Nebraska 2.9
New Hampshire 2.8
Hawaii 2.7
Vermont 2.6
North Dakota 2.2
South Dakota 2

Get new charts weekly

One email a week with the newest charts and their key numbers. No account needed.