Total nonfarm jobs, the latest month against the same month a year earlier, from the BLS Current Employment Statistics; fastest growth first.
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Rankings · Slowest Job Growth by State
the US Virgin Islands Has the Slowest Job Growth of Any State (2026)
Slowest Job Growth by State, read from the other end of our fastest job growth by state list. Same readings, same sources, all 50 states.
By The Honest Local · 50 states · every value links to its public source
-2.7%the US Virgin Islands leads with the lowest job growth in a year of all 50 states
The top five states
No. 1the US Virgin Islands-2.7%job growth in a year
No. 2Montana-1.0%job growth in a year
No. 3Virginia-0.8%job growth in a year
No. 4Indiana-0.5%job growth in a year
No. 5Vermont-0.2%job growth in a year
Slowest Job Growth by State on the map
Fastest job growth by city and state, states
Loading the numbers…
Slowest Job Growth by State, all 50
The full ranking
| Place | job growth in a year | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the US Virgin Islands | -2.7% |
| 2 | Montana | -1.0% |
| 3 | Virginia | -0.8% |
| 4 | Indiana | -0.5% |
| 5 | Vermont | -0.2% |
| 6 | Georgia | -0.2% |
| 7 | Maryland | -0.2% |
| 8 | West Virginia | -0.2% |
| 9 | Iowa | -0.1% |
| 10 | Kentucky | 0.0% |
| 11 | Colorado | 0.1% |
| 12 | Rhode Island | 0.1% |
| 13 | Nebraska | 0.1% |
| 14 | Illinois | 0.1% |
| 15 | Hawaii | 0.1% |
| 16 | Maine | 0.1% |
| 17 | New Jersey | 0.1% |
| 18 | Wyoming | 0.2% |
| 19 | Mississippi | 0.2% |
| 20 | Delaware | 0.2% |
| 21 | Ohio | 0.2% |
| 22 | South Dakota | 0.3% |
| 23 | Michigan | 0.3% |
| 24 | Tennessee | 0.4% |
| 25 | New York | 0.4% |
| 26 | New Hampshire | 0.4% |
| 27 | Massachusetts | 0.4% |
| 28 | Kansas | 0.5% |
| 29 | Arizona | 0.5% |
| 30 | Wisconsin | 0.6% |
| 31 | Washington | 0.6% |
| 32 | North Dakota | 0.6% |
| 33 | Florida | 0.6% |
| 34 | Oklahoma | 0.7% |
| 35 | California | 0.7% |
| 36 | Pennsylvania | 0.8% |
| 37 | Alaska | 0.8% |
| 38 | Arkansas | 0.8% |
| 39 | Alabama | 1.0% |
| 40 | Idaho | 1.0% |
| 41 | Texas | 1.0% |
| 42 | Connecticut | 1.1% |
| 43 | North Carolina | 1.2% |
| 44 | Utah | 1.2% |
| 45 | Missouri | 1.2% |
| 46 | New Mexico | 1.3% |
| 47 | Nevada | 1.3% |
| 48 | Louisiana | 1.5% |
| 49 | Minnesota | 1.5% |
| 50 | South Carolina | 1.8% |
Sources and method
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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