States with the Lowest Unemployment Rates

States with the Lowest Unemployment Rates

by Nick Selbe

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CareerTrends found the states with the lowest unemployment rates.

The state of the nation's unemployment rate has taken an encouraging turn for the better since the peak of the Great Recession. It currently sits at 5 percent after soaring all the way to 10 percent in October 2009. Though the country's job creation slowed in April -- 160,000 jobs were created, the lowest total since Sept. 2015 -- the unemployment rate remained unchanged.

Previously, CareerTrends examined the 19 states with unemployment rates higher than the national average. Now, we take a look at the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates in the country. Data reported is from March 2016 and reflects each state's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate, total employed and total unemployed workers, as shown by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This attempts to "remove the influences of predictable seasonal patterns to reveal how employment and unemployment change from month to month."

Of the 10 states on the list, all of them have unemployment rates under 4 percent, including New England states Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Topping the list are four states with unemployment rates under 3 percent.

[ Check out the States with the Highest Unemployment Rates

#10. Minnesota

March 2016 unemployment rate: 3.74 percent
Total employed: 2.95 million
Total unemployed: 114,858

#9. Utah

March 2016 unemployment rate: 3.46 percent
Total employed: 1.43 million
Total unemployed: 51,380

#8. Maine

March 2016 unemployment rate: 3.41 percent
Total employed: 651,348
Total unemployed: 22,996

#7. Vermont

March 2016 unemployment rate: 3.32 percent
Total employed: 333,055
Total unemployed: 11,422

#6. Hawaii

March 2016 unemployment rate: 3.12 percent
Total employed: 668,787
Total unemployed: 21,531

#5. North Dakota

March 2016 unemployment rate: 3.1 percent
Total employed: 404,418
Total unemployed: 12,952

#4. Nebraska

March 2016 unemployment rate: 2.99 percent
Total employed: 988,682
Total unemployed: 30,503

#3. Colorado

March 2016 unemployment rate: 2.91 percent
Total employed: 2.79 million
Total unemployed: 83,661

#2. New Hampshire

March 2016 unemployment rate: 2.59 percent
Total employed: 724,893
Total unemployed: 19,297

#1. South Dakota

March 2016 unemployment rate: 2.55 percent
Total employed: 442,900
Total unemployed: 11,569

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Economy: "States with the Lowest Unemployment Rates"