North Dakota posted the lowest jobless rate among all US states in January at 1.9%, the US Bureau of Statistics reported today. The next lowest rate was in South Dakota at 2.1%.
On the flip side, Nevada had the highest unemployment rate among all states in January at 5.3%, with California trailing closely at 5.2%.
In total, 16 states had unemployment rates lower than the US figure of 3.7%, seven states and the District of Columbia had higher rates, and 27 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the national figure.
Among all states, Massachusetts and Wyoming recorded the largest year-over-year jobless rate decreases in January, each down 0.5 percentage points to 3.0% and 2.8%, respectively.
Conversely, Maine and New Jersey had the largest year-over-year unemployment rate increases in January, each up 0.9 percentage points to 3.4% and 4.8%, respectively.