Unemployment rates for Hispanics or Latinos by state in 2015

There were 26.1 million Hispanics or Latinos in the U.S. labor force in 2015, and their unemployment rate averaged 6.6 percent. Fourteen states had a Hispanic or Latino labor force of more than 400,000; these states accounted for 83 percent of the total Hispanic or Latino labor force. Among these 14 states, Texas had the lowest unemployment rate for Hispanics or Latinos, 4.9 percent. The rate in Georgia was 5.1 percent, and the rate in Colorado was 5.5 percent. Florida (5.8 percent) and Washington (6.1 percent) also had Hispanic unemployment rates lower than the national average.

Among the 14 states with the largest Hispanic or Latino labor force in 2015, Arizona had the highest unemployment rate for Hispanics or Latinos, 8.3 percent. Other states with Hispanic unemployment rates above the national average were Nevada (8.0 percent), Pennsylvania (7.7 percent), California and New Jersey (both 7.6 percent), North Carolina (7.4 percent), and Illinois (7.2 percent). The Hispanic unemployment rates in New York (6.7 percent) and New Mexico (6.4 percent) were close to the national average.

These Current Population Survey data are compiled by the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. To learn more, see 2015 Data on Employment Status by State and Demographic Group (XLS) (HTML). Unemployment rates are not shown for states where the survey sample size is too small to provide reliable estimates.