Rise in Unemployment Rate by State 2025

About This Dataset

Rise in Unemployment Rate by State 2025
What this chart shows. The 42 states, counting the District of Columbia, where the average unemployment rate was higher in 2025 than in 2024, in percentage points. The District of Columbia rose the most, by 1.0 points to 6.3 per cent, followed by Oregon and Delaware, both up 0.9 points.

How the data is collected. The change is the 2025 annual average minus the 2024 annual average, both as published by BLS to one decimal place, so small changes are rounded.

Background. Unemployment rose in 42 of the 51, was unchanged in 2 and fell in 7; the largest falls, 0.4 points, were in Illinois and Hawaii. Nationally, the rate rose 0.3 points.

Limits. A rise of a few tenths of a point is within the margin of error of state estimates, so only the larger increases clearly reflect a weaker job market. The unemployment rate also rises when more people start looking for work.
Analysis

Nevada, one of the few states where unemployment fell, still had the third-highest rate in 2025 at 5.3 per cent.

Source:  US Bureau of Labor Statistics (LAUS and CES annual averages)

Key Findings

🏆
District of Columbia leads in Increase vs 2024 (percentage points) with 1 in 2025.
📊
Average Increase vs 2024 (percentage points) in 2025: 0.395  ·  median: 0.30.
↔️
Gap in 2025: District of Columbia is 10× larger than West Virginia.

Rise in Unemployment Rate by State 2025

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Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

Admin
⬡
Data Points
42
42 categories  ·  1 year
↑
Top Value
1
District of Columbia
Increase vs 2024 (percentage points) · 2025
◈
Metrics
1
Increase vs 2024 (percentage points)
◷
Period
2025
Single year snapshot

Methodology & source

Data source
US Bureau of Labor Statistics (LAUS and CES annual averages)
Coverage
42 entities · 2025 · 42 observations
Measure
Increase vs 2024 (percentage points)
Last updated
29 September 2026
Compiled by
The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
  • Values are shown as reported by the source. Nothing is rescaled, rebased or converted — the only changes are thousand separators and decimals shown to two places.
  • Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2025.

An article using this data

US Unemployment Rose in 41 of 50 States in 2025: California Highest, South Dakota Lowest
BLS data for 2025: the US unemployment rate averaged 4.3%, up from 4.0%. California had the highest state rate, 5.5%, South Dakota the lowest, 2.1%, and Idaho g...

Rankings & Full Data

42 records · Increase vs 2024 (percentage points) · ranked by 2025

✓ 42 sourced
# Category 2025 Source
🥇 District of Columbia 1
🥈 Delaware 0.90
🥉 Oregon 0.90
4 Maryland 0.80
5 Minnesota 0.80
6 Connecticut 0.70
7 Mississippi 0.60
8 New Hampshire 0.60
9 New Jersey 0.60
10 Arizona 0.60
11 Arkansas 0.60
12 Florida 0.50
13 Massachusetts 0.50
14 Michigan 0.50
15 Pennsylvania 0.50
16 Virginia 0.50
17 Maine 0.40
18 South Carolina 0.40
19 Vermont 0.40
20 Iowa 0.30
21 Kansas 0.30
22 Missouri 0.30
23 Montana 0.30
24 Nebraska 0.30
25 Rhode Island 0.30
26 South Dakota 0.30
27 Utah 0.30
28 Wyoming 0.30
29 North Dakota 0.20
30 Ohio 0.20
31 Oklahoma 0.20
32 Washington 0.20
33 Wisconsin 0.20
34 Alaska 0.20
35 California 0.20
36 Idaho 0.10
37 New Mexico 0.10
38 New York 0.10
39 North Carolina 0.10
40 Tennessee 0.10
41 Texas 0.10
42 West Virginia 0.10

Data Sources & References

All external sources cited in this dataset

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