About this chart race
New Jersey starts with the highest state unemployment rate in 1976, at 10.4%. Alaska takes the top position in 1977. Michigan has the highest rate from 1980 through 1982, reaching 15.4% in 1982. West Virginia then reaches 17.1% in 1983, the highest annual rate among the 50 states over this entire period. Here, a higher position means higher unemployment, not a better economic result.
Michigan has the highest rate in 2009 at 13.5%. Nevada takes the top position in 2010 at 13.3% and has the highest rate again in 2020 at 13.5%. In 2025, California is highest among the 50 states at 5.5%, followed by Nevada at 5.3%. Michigan, New Jersey and Oregon each have 5.2%.
The race includes the 36 states that were among the ten highest rates in at least one year from 1976 through 2025, including ties at the tenth-place threshold. Each has 50 annual observations. The District of Columbia, territories and substate areas are excluded. The remaining 14 states never reached that annual threshold.
Source: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics annual-average state workbook, downloaded October 11, 2026. These are published estimates, not counts of unemployment-benefit claims. The unemployment rate expresses unemployed people as a percentage of the civilian labor force. Annual rates are not seasonally adjusted and can be revised.
Important 2025 limitation: BLS uses an 11-month average that excludes October because data were not collected during the federal government shutdown. The race preserves that published annual estimate. It does not fill in October or present 2025 as a complete 12-month average. Smooth movement between annual observations is animation, not additional measured data. Small differences and ties should not be read as proof of statistically significant differences.
This animated ranking shows how annual average unemployment rate changed across 36 series between 1976 and 2025. The bars re-order themselves as the years advance, so overtakes are visible as they happen rather than hidden inside a table. Use the list on the left to choose exactly who competes, drag the slider to jump to any year, or open the table view to read the underlying numbers.
As of 2025, California leads with 5.5 %. The highest figure recorded anywhere in this data belongs to West Virginia (17.1).
Included in this race
West Virginia, Michigan, Alabama, Nevada, Ohio, Louisiana, California, Mississippi, Indiana, Tennessee, Washington, Illinois, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Oregon, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Alaska, North Carolina, New Jersey, Georgia, Arizona, New York, Idaho, Missouri, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Connecticut, Texas, Montana, Delaware, Maine, Wyoming.
Source
Data from US Bureau of Labor Statistics — Local Area Unemployment Statistics. Every figure shown comes from this source — nothing is estimated or generated.
You can browse every chart race, embed this one on your own site, or download it as a video to share.