Jobs Creation by State
Annual job creation numbers show that the growth in the number of jobs gained in the United States has fluctuated since 2011. In 2021, the most recent year analyzed, 12.45 million jobs were added to the economy—a seven-year low.
What do the figures look like on a state level? Here are some job creation statistics by state.
Jobs creation by state (Q2 2023): top 10
|
State |
No. of jobs created in Q2 2023 |
|---|---|
|
1. California |
1,028,190 |
|
2. Texas |
680,662 |
|
3. Florida |
578,080 |
|
4. New York |
505,166 |
|
5. Illinois |
285,519 |
|
6. Pennsylvania |
278,274 |
|
7. Ohio |
266,857 |
|
8. Georgia |
265,731 |
|
9. New Jersey |
252,735 |
|
10. North Carolina |
248,661 |
The latest report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that California tops the chart ranking job creation by state in Q2 2023. That quarter, 1,028,190 jobs were created, and California was the only state to exceed the one million mark.
California’s spot on this list of states ranked by job creation should come as no surprise as it’s the state with the highest number of small businesses.
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Texas is in second place, creating 680,662 jobs in Q2 2023. It also ranks among the best states to start a business. This is followed by Florida, with 578,080. New York and Illinois round out the top five, with 505,166 and 285,519 jobs created, respectively.
Pennsylvania ranks sixth on this list of states ranked by job creation. In Q2 2023, it created 278,274 new jobs. Ohio and Georgia follow, with around 266,000 new job creations each. Completing this top 10 list are New Jersey and North Carolina, with 252,735 and 248,661, respectively.
Incidentally, nine of these top 10 states are among the 10 most populous states in the US.
States ranked by job creation: bottom 10
This list of job creation by state shows that the bottom 10 is led by West Virginia. In Q2 2023, the Mountain State added 33,896 jobs—just 3.3% of the number of jobs gained in California.
Montana ranks next, with 33,093. The remaining states created fewer than 30,000 jobs each in Q2 2023. Hawaii gained 29,151 new jobs while Rhode Island, the smallest US state in terms of size, gained 28,983 new jobs. Alaska is next, after having created 27,627 jobs in the second quarter of 2023.
South Dakota follows, with 25,414 jobs added, just a fraction more than Delaware, which ranks next, with 24,278. North Dakota is next, having added 23,960 new jobs. Vermont and Wyoming are the states with the lowest number of job gains in Q2 2023. Both added just around 10,000 new jobs that quarter.
Together, the number of jobs added by these bottom 10 states in Q2 2023 totaled 263,267, around one-quarter of what California created.