State unemployment rates, July 2011

Nevada continued to register the highest unemployment rate among the states, 12.9 percent in July. California recorded the next highest rate, 12.0 percent.

[Chart data]

North Dakota reported the lowest jobless rate, 3.3 percent, followed by Nebraska, 4.1 percent.

In total, 25 states posted jobless rates significantly lower than the U.S. figure of 9.1 percent, 8 states and the District of Columbia had measurably higher rates, and 17 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.

From July 2010 to July 2011, Nevada recorded the largest jobless rate decrease (–2.0 percentage points). Ten additional states had smaller but also statistically significant decreases over the year: New Mexico (-1.8 percentage points), Indiana (–1.6 points), Michigan and Oklahoma (–1.5 points each), Oregon (–1.2 points), Wyoming (-1.1 points), Ohio (–1.0 point), Florida (–0.8 point), Virginia (–0.7 point), and North Dakota (–0.6 point).

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 "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment – July 2011" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-1231.