Fastest Job Growth by State, South Carolina Leads (2026)

Name: Fastest job growth by city and state, The Honest Local
Creator: The Honest Local
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

South Carolina has the fastest job growth of the 51 states and territories we rank, with jobs up 1.8% in a year (BLS, August 2026). Minnesota is next, with jobs up 1.5% in a year.

By The Honest Local · 51 states · every value links to its public source

1.8%South Carolina leads on the list, the highest reading of 51 states and territories

The top five states job growth in a year

No. 1South Carolina1.8%job growth in a year
No. 2Minnesota1.5%job growth in a year
No. 3Louisiana1.5%job growth in a year
No. 4Nevada1.3%job growth in a year
No. 5New Mexico1.3%job growth in a year

Fastest Job Growth by State on the map

Fastest job growth by city and state, states hover for the numbers, click for every one

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Total nonfarm jobs, the latest month against the same month a year earlier, from the BLS Current Employment Statistics; fastest growth first.

Fastest Job Growth by State, all 51

The full ranking job growth in a year

	Place	job growth in a year
1	South Carolina	1.8%
2	Minnesota	1.5%
3	Louisiana	1.5%
4	Nevada	1.3%
5	New Mexico	1.3%
6	North Carolina	1.2%
7	Missouri	1.2%
8	Utah	1.2%
9	Connecticut	1.1%
10	Texas	1.0%
11	Alabama	1.0%
12	Idaho	1.0%
13	Pennsylvania	0.8%
14	Arkansas	0.8%
15	Alaska	0.8%
16	Oklahoma	0.7%
17	California	0.7%
18	Wisconsin	0.6%
19	Florida	0.6%
20	North Dakota	0.6%
21	Washington	0.6%
22	Arizona	0.5%
23	Kansas	0.5%
24	Massachusetts	0.4%
25	New Hampshire	0.4%
26	Tennessee	0.4%
27	New York	0.4%
28	South Dakota	0.3%
29	Michigan	0.3%
30	Ohio	0.2%
31	Mississippi	0.2%
32	Wyoming	0.2%
33	Delaware	0.2%
34	Rhode Island	0.1%
35	Maine	0.1%
36	Hawaii	0.1%
37	Illinois	0.1%
38	New Jersey	0.1%
39	Nebraska	0.1%
40	Colorado	0.1%
41	Kentucky	0.0%
42	Iowa	-0.1%
43	Vermont	-0.2%
44	Georgia	-0.2%
45	West Virginia	-0.2%
46	Maryland	-0.2%
47	Oregon	-0.5%
48	Indiana	-0.5%
49	Virginia	-0.8%
50	Montana	-1.0%
51	the US Virgin Islands	-2.7%

Sources and method

BLS Current Employment Statistics (via tape_readings) · 2026-08

How we got this. Job growth comes from tape_readings, which src/tape/job-growth.ts refreshes monthly from the BLS Current Employment Statistics: total nonfarm employment, not seasonally adjusted, the latest month against the same month a year earlier, in percent. A metro reads its own CES series (Vancouver, Washington shares Portland's, the way BLS publishes it); a state reads its statewide series. Cities and states each rank on their own list, fastest growth first. It refreshes monthly.

Rankings by The Honest Local from public data, one page per list, refreshed on each source’s own cycle. Places with no reading are left out rather than estimated. Every value on this page carries its source in the page’s structured data.

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