Unemployment rates increased in 10 states in August 2023

Unemployment rates were higher in August in 10 states, lower in 2 states, and stable in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Twenty-five states had jobless rate decreases from a year earlier, 9 states and the District had increases, and 16 states had little change. The national unemployment rate, 3.8 percent, rose by 0.3 percentage point over the month but was little changed from August 2022.

Maryland had the lowest jobless rate in August, 1.7 percent. The next lowest rates were in New Hampshire and Vermont, 1.8 percent each. The rates in Louisiana (3.3 percent), Maryland (1.7 percent), and North Dakota (1.9 percent) set new lows. All state data began in 1976.

Nevada had the highest unemployment rate, 5.4 percent. In total, 27 states had unemployment rates lower than the U.S. figure of 3.8 percent, 2 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates, and 21 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.

Twenty-five states had over-the-year unemployment rate decreases, the largest of which was in Maryland (−1.7 percentage points). Nine states and the District of Columbia had rate increases from August 2022, the largest of which was in New Jersey (+1.2 percentage points). Sixteen states had jobless rates that were not notably different from those of a year earlier.

California had the highest number of unemployed people in August 2023 at 894,743, followed by Texas at 622,929 and New York at 384,731.  The states with the lowest number of unemployed people were Vermont (6,401), North Dakota (7,888), and Wyoming (8,740).

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see "State Employment and Unemployment — August 2023." We also have more charts and maps of state employment and unemployment data.