The Worst Local Job Market in Every State – Unemployment Near 20%

For much of the last decade and a half, the U.S. job market has steadily grown stronger. With the single exception of 2020, when much of the U.S. economy was shut down in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19, the average annual unemployment rate has either improved or remained flat nearly every year […] The post The Worst Local Job Market in Every State – Unemployment Near 20% appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..

Mar 25, 2025 - 15:44

The Worst Local Job Market in Every State – Unemployment Near 20%

For much of the last decade and a half, the U.S. job market has steadily grown stronger. With the single exception of 2020, when much of the U.S. economy was shut down in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19, the average annual unemployment rate has either improved or remained flat nearly every year since 2010. Between 2010 and 2019, the national unemployment rate was reduced by over half, from 9.6% to 3.7%. Then, between 2020 and 2023, the U.S. jobless rate fell from 8.1% to 3.6%.

24/7 Wall St. Key Points:

Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic aside, the U.S. job market has steadily improved year after year for the better part of two decades.
While many Americans may take these favorable conditions for granted, there are parts of the country where levels of unemployment exceed even the highest jobless rates reported across the U.S. as a whole over the last 70 years.
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Notably, however, 2024 presented a break from this longer term trend. Last year, unemployment rose in the U.S. by nearly half a percentage point to 4.0%. Whether 2024 will stand out as an anomaly or a turning point in America’s economic fortunes remains to be seen — but so far in 2025, monthly data has not been promising. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. jobless rate ticked up slightly between January and February, from 4.0% to 4.1%.

While the share of the U.S. labor force joining the ranks of the unemployed appears to be growing, the national jobless rate likely remains within the Federal Reserve Bank’s “maximum employment” target, as the Fed has yet to implement meaningful policy changes to stimulate job growth. Still, the national jobless rate does not tell the complete story. Across the country, local economies are being decimated by a dearth of employment opportunities — and jobless rates that far exceed anything seen on a national scale in recent decades.

Using the latest available county-level data from the BLS, 24/7 Wall St. identified the worst local job market in every state. For each state, we identified the county or county equivalent with the highest unemployment rate in December 2024. In the case of a tie, the county home to the greatest number of unemployed residents ranks on this list. All county and state level data in this story are for December 2024 and are not seasonally adjusted.

Among the 50 counties and county equivalents on this list, jobless rates range from 2.8% to well over 15%. In some states, the unemployment rate in the county with the weakest job market is less than one percentage point higher than the comparable statewide rate. In others, it exceeds the state unemployment rate by over 10 percentage points. (Here is a look at the jobs that are most threatened by AI.)

In simplest terms, unemployment rates reflect the share of the labor force who are out of a job and looking for work. Partially as a result, unemployment can go up not only when jobs go away, but also when the number of people looking for work grows faster than the number of available jobs. Even though most places on this list have seen an uptick in unemployment over the last year, most have also reported a 12 month increase in overall employment. In many cases, this seeming incongruity is explained by labor force growth outpacing employment growth. Unemployment can also rise when the labor force shrinks, particularly if jobs are also disappearing at a faster rate. (Here is a look at the fastest growing economies in every state.)

Why It Matters

With the single exception of 2020, 2024 was the first year in nearly a decade and a half in which the annual U.S. unemployment rate went up. Whether or not this trend reversal continues in the coming years remains to be seen — but there are already communities across the country reporting unemployment rates that eclipse those reported nationwide in even the worst years.