US states by payroll job growth, 12-month change
Nevada had the highest payroll job growth, 12-month change of 51 states in February 2026, at 2.2%. District of Columbia had the lowest, at -5.5%. The median was -0.1% and the figure for the United States was 0.1%. Source: BLS.
Map of states, February 2026
- Under -0.5
- -0.5 to -0.3
- -0.3 to 0
- 0 to 0.2
- 0.2 to 0.3
- 0.3 and over
All states, February 2026
Full ranking
| Rank | States | February 2026 (%) | Change on February 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nevada | 2.2 | +2.1 pts |
| 2 | South Carolina | 0.8 | -0.8 pts |
| 3 | Arkansas | 0.7 | -0.4 pts |
| 3 | California | 0.7 | +0.4 pts |
| 3 | North Carolina | 0.7 | 0 pts |
| 3 | Utah | 0.7 | -0.8 pts |
| 7 | Idaho | 0.5 | -1.3 pts |
| 7 | Texas | 0.5 | -1 pts |
| 9 | Alabama | 0.3 | -0.2 pts |
| 9 | Hawaii | 0.3 | -0.4 pts |
| 9 | Montana | 0.3 | +0.1 pts |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | 0.3 | -0.3 pts |
| 9 | South Dakota | 0.3 | -0.2 pts |
| 14 | Maine | 0.2 | -0.3 pts |
| 14 | Minnesota | 0.2 | -0.6 pts |
| 14 | North Dakota | 0.2 | -0.7 pts |
| 14 | Washington | 0.2 | -0.4 pts |
| 18 | Connecticut | 0.1 | -0.6 pts |
| 18 | New York | 0.1 | -1.5 pts |
| 18 | Ohio | 0.1 | -0.2 pts |
| 21 | Arizona | 0 | -0.5 pts |
| 21 | Kansas | 0 | -0.4 pts |
| 21 | Missouri | 0 | 0 pts |
| 21 | New Jersey | 0 | -0.7 pts |
| 21 | New Mexico | 0 | -0.6 pts |
| 26 | Delaware | -0.1 | -1.8 pts |
| 26 | Georgia | -0.1 | -0.9 pts |
| 26 | Kentucky | -0.1 | -0.1 pts |
| 26 | Louisiana | -0.1 | -1.6 pts |
| 26 | Mississippi | -0.1 | -0.9 pts |
| 31 | Alaska | -0.2 | -2.1 pts |
| 31 | Tennessee | -0.2 | -0.6 pts |
| 31 | Wyoming | -0.2 | -0.6 pts |
| 34 | Colorado | -0.3 | -0.1 pts |
| 34 | Illinois | -0.3 | -0.8 pts |
| 34 | Michigan | -0.3 | -0.3 pts |
| 34 | Oklahoma | -0.3 | -1.2 pts |
| 34 | Rhode Island | -0.3 | -1.5 pts |
| 39 | Florida | -0.4 | -1.5 pts |
| 39 | Indiana | -0.4 | -0.7 pts |
| 39 | Vermont | -0.4 | -0.6 pts |
| 39 | West Virginia | -0.4 | -0.4 pts |
| 43 | Massachusetts | -0.5 | -0.3 pts |
| 43 | Nebraska | -0.5 | -0.8 pts |
| 45 | Wisconsin | -0.6 | -0.9 pts |
| 46 | New Hampshire | -0.7 | -0.7 pts |
| 47 | Virginia | -0.9 | -2.1 pts |
| 48 | Oregon | -1 | -1 pts |
| 49 | Iowa | -1.2 | -0.7 pts |
| 50 | Maryland | -1.8 | -2.1 pts |
| 51 | District of Columbia | -5.5 | -4.4 pts |
Other periods
About this ranking
Percent change in seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment from the same month a year earlier, from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Invokely computes it from the two published job counts, shown with each value, and rounds it to one decimal as BLS does in its state release. The latest month is preliminary. Each year BLS benchmarks the series to unemployment insurance tax records and revises past years. State estimates come out about two weeks after the national ones, and the states do not add up to the national total because each is estimated separately.
Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.
How to cite
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Current Employment Statistics, State and Area: all employees, total nonfarm, statewide, seasonally adjusted (SMS, state, 000000000000001), percent change from 12 months earlier. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.data.55.TotalNonFarmStateWide.All. Retrieved 2026-10-12.Citation styles
APA 7
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Current Employment Statistics, State and Area: all employees, total nonfarm, statewide, seasonally adjusted (SMS, state, 000000000000001), percent change from 12 months earlier (US states by payroll job growth, 12-month change, 2026-02) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.data.55.TotalNonFarmStateWide.All
MLA 9
Current Employment Statistics, State and Area: all employees, total nonfarm, statewide, seasonally adjusted (SMS, state, 000000000000001), percent change from 12 months earlier, US states by payroll job growth, 12-month change, 2026-02. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.data.55.TotalNonFarmStateWide.All. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/payroll-job-growth/us-states?period=2026-02. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
Chicago (author-date)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Current Employment Statistics, State and Area: all employees, total nonfarm, statewide, seasonally adjusted (SMS, state, 000000000000001), percent change from 12 months earlier. US states by payroll job growth, 12-month change, 2026-02. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.data.55.TotalNonFarmStateWide.All. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/payroll-job-growth/us-states?period=2026-02.
Harvard
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Current Employment Statistics, State and Area: all employees, total nonfarm, statewide, seasonally adjusted (SMS, state, 000000000000001), percent change from 12 months earlier, US states by payroll job growth, 12-month change, 2026-02 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.data.55.TotalNonFarmStateWide.All, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/payroll-job-growth/us-states?period=2026-02 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{bureau_us_states_by_payroll_2026,
author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
title = {{Current Employment Statistics, State and Area: all employees, total nonfarm, statewide, seasonally adjusted (SMS, state, 000000000000001), percent change from 12 months earlier: US states by payroll job growth, 12-month change, 2026-02}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Data set},
url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.data.55.TotalNonFarmStateWide.All},
urldate = {2026-10-12},
note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/payroll-job-growth/us-states?period=2026-02. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Current Employment Statistics, State and Area: all employees, total nonfarm, statewide, seasonally adjusted (SMS, state, 000000000000001), percent change from 12 months earlier. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.data.55.TotalNonFarmStateWide.All. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY - DATA
AU - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI - Current Employment Statistics, State and Area: all employees, total nonfarm, statewide, seasonally adjusted (SMS, state, 000000000000001), percent change from 12 months earlier: US states by payroll job growth, 12-month change, 2026-02
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB - Invokely
UR - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.data.55.TotalNonFarmStateWide.All
L2 - https://invokely.ai/rankings/payroll-job-growth/us-states?period=2026-02
Y2 - 2026/10/12
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/payroll-job-growth/us-states?period=2026-02.
N1 - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Current Employment Statistics, State and Area: all employees, total nonfarm, statewide, seasonally adjusted (SMS, state, 000000000000001), percent change from 12 months earlier. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/sm/sm.data.55.TotalNonFarmStateWide.All. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER -
Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Rank US states by payroll job growth, 12-month change using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"payroll_job_growth_12_month","level":"region","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=payroll_job_growth_12_month&level=region&within=United%20States&limit=10Questions
Which state has the highest payroll job growth, 12-month change?
Nevada, with 2.2% in February 2026, according to BLS.
Which state has the lowest payroll job growth, 12-month change?
District of Columbia, with -5.5% in February 2026.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, State and Area: all employees, total nonfarm, statewide, seasonally adjusted (SMS, state, 000000000000001), percent change from 12 months earlier. Retrieved 2026-10-12.