U.S. States Ranked by Payroll Job Growth

Which states added payroll jobs fastest over the past year? This table orders all 50 states by percent, year-over-year change, using August 2026 observations.

Fastest payroll job growth in August 2026

New Mexico and South Carolina share first place at 1.62. The last-ranked state is Montana, at -0.95. Equal displayed values share competition rank; alphabetical order within a tie does not establish a lead. These figures use the same period and definition.

Payroll growth compares workplace jobs, not the number of employed residents. Percentage growth and the absolute number of added jobs answer different questions. The median of the 50 state observations is 0.43; this unweighted state median is not the national rate or total. The August 2026 source estimates are preliminary.

Complete ranking and historical periods

Reference periodFind a stateDefault ranking CSV

50 states · August 2026 · Percent, year-over-year change. Highest values first; ties share a rank.

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U.S. States Ranked by Payroll Job Growth · August 2026 · Percent, year-over-year change
Rank	State	Value	Rank one year earlier
1	New Mexico	1.62	25
1	South Carolina	1.62	4
3	Louisiana	1.61	39
4	Minnesota	1.45	21
5	Alaska	1.30	6
5	North Carolina	1.30	8
7	Nevada	1.29	1
8	Missouri	1.14	41
9	Texas	1.11	5
10	Alabama	1.08	28
11	Utah	1.03	3
12	Connecticut	0.92	23
13	Idaho	0.88	2
14	Wyoming	0.78	47
15	California	0.77	15
16	Oklahoma	0.71	28
17	Arizona	0.64	34
17	Wisconsin	0.64	38
19	Florida	0.59	21
20	Arkansas	0.58	9
21	Pennsylvania	0.56	15
22	Kansas	0.50	30
23	North Dakota	0.49	43
23	Tennessee	0.49	35
25	Mississippi	0.44	18
26	Washington	0.42	26
27	Illinois	0.24	31
28	Colorado	0.22	35
28	Massachusetts	0.22	48
30	South Dakota	0.21	20
31	Hawaii	0.20	13
32	New Hampshire	0.19	44
33	Michigan	0.18	37
34	Nebraska	0.17	23
34	Ohio	0.17	18
36	Delaware	0.08	7
37	Rhode Island	0.06	26
38	Iowa	0.04	49
39	New York	-0.01	11
40	Kentucky	-0.09	42
40	Maine	-0.09	40
42	Georgia	-0.15	15
43	Maryland	-0.20	50
44	New Jersey	-0.23	14
45	West Virginia	-0.25	33
46	Vermont	-0.35	46
47	Indiana	-0.49	10
48	Oregon	-0.81	45
49	Virginia	-0.88	12
50	Montana	-0.95	32

Change period · Download displayed data

District of Columbia: -3.61 percent, year-over-year change, shown separately and excluded from ranks.

Changing the period updates the table and export. The introductory analysis above concerns August 2026. All historical choices use the same acquired revised history.

What changed in the ranking?

New Mexico occupies position 1 in August 2026 and occupied position 25 in August 2025 within this acquired history. Compare the underlying levels before interpreting movement: other states’ changes can alter a rank even when a state’s own value barely changes. A change in rank is not itself a growth rate, and it cannot establish a policy cause.

Percentage growth gives small and large states a common scale

The same number of added jobs represents a larger proportional change in a small labor market. Ranking by percentage is useful for comparing pace, while the absolute job change is useful for assessing scale. This page calculates the annual percentage from the acquired state payroll series; state profiles also show the underlying counts.

The denominator is the same month one year earlier. Both observations use seasonally adjusted total nonfarm series. Because source payroll levels are rounded, this calculation can differ from the headline percentage in an agency release. It is labeled as a website calculation rather than a copied official growth headline.

A job and an employed resident are different units

Payroll employment is an establishment measure. A person holding more than one covered job can contribute more than one job, and a commuter’s workplace can be in a different state from their home. LAUS unemployment instead classifies resident people by labor-force status.

Payroll growth can rise while unemployment also rises, depending on labor-force entry, survey coverage and other changes. That combination is not resolved by forcing the two series to agree. Use the source definitions and the separate observations on a state profile.

Watch benchmarks and reference periods

Current Employment Statistics estimates can be revised monthly and during annual benchmarking. Small changes in a ranking can therefore reflect a new estimate of an old month as well as economic change between months. This acquisition does not contain previously reported state vintages.

The year-over-year view smooths some short-run volatility but does not establish a causal explanation. Industry-specific contributions, employer openings and closures, and other evidence are needed before attributing a state’s growth to one policy or sector. The rank is descriptive and includes no political score.

Sources, formula and ranking methodology

Measure: BLS state CES total nonfarm, seasonally adjusted. Method: 100 × (payroll jobs in month ÷ payroll jobs in same month one year earlier − 1). Rounded to two decimals for ranking. The display and rank use 2 decimal places. Equal values receive competition rank; missing values are omitted from the ranked universe and reported in the table status. Filtering preserves national ranks.

Source file publication: September 18, 2026. Site acquisition: September 30, 2026. The annual GDP/income files contain 2025 observations; the price-parity file contains 2024 observations; labor series contain August 2026. These dates must not be relabeled as one current-month dashboard. Revised estimates in this acquisition are distinct from a historical release-vintage archive.

BEA state GDP methods · BEA state personal income · BEA regional price-parity methods · BLS state employment release and statistical notes · Files, dictionary and source checksums.