States with the Highest Job Openings Rate
All 51 states and DC ranked by job openings rate, the percentage of positions currently unfilled relative to total employment.
What This Ranking Tells Us
The job openings rate measures unfilled positions as a percentage of total employment plus openings. States topping this list have more jobs available relative to their workforce size, indicating strong labor demand and potential hiring difficulties for employers. High openings rates are common in states with tourism-heavy economies, rapid population growth, or concentrated industries experiencing skills shortages. For workers, these states represent the strongest job markets with the most leverage in salary negotiations.
This ranking is computed from the latest available month of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), state-level series, harmonized against the BLS state employment denominator so the figures stand on the same statistical footing across all 51 jurisdictions. Rates are seasonally adjusted where BLS publishes adjusted series and reported as raw values where they are not, with no proprietary smoothing or extrapolation applied on top of the official numbers.
Methodology: rows are sorted by the metric named in the column header, ties broken by the most recent month value, then by alphabetical state name. Differences smaller than the JOLTS published relative standard error band of roughly ±0.3 percentage points at the state level should be treated as statistically indistinguishable; the ordering is informative for clusters of states, not for one-place gaps. See our methodology page for the full pipeline, and consult the BLS JOLTS state data issues notice for upstream caveats.
| # | State | Openings Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia WV | 5.8% |
| 2 | Oklahoma OK | 5.3% |
| 3 | Georgia GA | 5.2% |
| 4 | Idaho ID | 5.0% |
| 5 | Mississippi MS | 4.8% |
| 6 | Minnesota MN | 4.7% |
| 7 | Virginia VA | 4.7% |
| 8 | Ohio OH | 4.6% |
| 9 | Alaska AK | 4.5% |
| 10 | Arkansas AR | 4.5% |
| 11 | Kansas KS | 4.5% |
| 12 | Louisiana LA | 4.5% |
| 13 | North Dakota ND | 4.5% |
| 14 | South Carolina SC | 4.5% |
| 15 | District of Columbia DC | 4.3% |
| 16 | Maryland MD | 4.3% |
| 17 | Michigan MI | 4.3% |
| 18 | Missouri MO | 4.3% |
| 19 | North Carolina NC | 4.3% |
| 20 | Rhode Island RI | 4.3% |
| 21 | Alabama AL | 4.2% |
| 22 | Delaware DE | 4.2% |
| 23 | Florida FL | 4.1% |
| 24 | Kentucky KY | 4.1% |
| 25 | Maine ME | 4.1% |
| 26 | Montana MT | 4.1% |
| 27 | South Dakota SD | 4.1% |
| 28 | Tennessee TN | 4.0% |
| 29 | Texas TX | 4.0% |
| 30 | Iowa IA | 3.9% |
| 31 | Connecticut CT | 3.8% |
| 32 | Wisconsin WI | 3.8% |
| 33 | Indiana IN | 3.7% |
| 34 | Nebraska NE | 3.7% |
| 35 | New Jersey NJ | 3.7% |
| 36 | Oregon OR | 3.7% |
| 37 | Pennsylvania PA | 3.7% |
| 38 | Arizona AZ | 3.6% |
| 39 | Nevada NV | 3.6% |
| 40 | New York NY | 3.6% |
| 41 | Utah UT | 3.6% |
| 42 | Wyoming WY | 3.6% |
| 43 | Colorado CO | 3.5% |
| 44 | New Mexico NM | 3.5% |
| 45 | Illinois IL | 3.4% |
| 46 | New Hampshire NH | 3.4% |
| 47 | Vermont VT | 3.4% |
| 48 | Massachusetts MA | 3.3% |
| 49 | California CA | 3.2% |
| 50 | Washington WA | 3.2% |
| 51 | Hawaii HI | 3.1% |
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
Top of the List, State Detail
Quick links to the detail pages for the leading states in this ranking, each page carries the full JOLTS time series, industry breakdown, and year-over-year context.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the job openings rate measure?
The job openings rate is the number of unfilled positions divided by total employment plus openings, expressed as a percentage. A rate of 6% means roughly 6 out of every 100 positions are currently vacant and being actively recruited for. BLS collects this monthly through the JOLTS survey of approximately 21,000 establishments.
Which states have the most job openings?
States with high tourism and hospitality sectors (Alaska, Montana, Hawaii), rapid population growth (Georgia, South Carolina), and concentrated healthcare or tech industries tend to have the highest openings rates. The rankings shift monthly based on seasonal hiring patterns and economic conditions.
Why do some states consistently have high openings rates?
Persistent high openings rates typically indicate structural labor shortages rather than temporary demand spikes. Contributing factors include skills mismatches between available workers and open positions, geographic isolation limiting the labor pool, rapid industry growth outpacing workforce development, and quality-of-life factors that affect worker retention.
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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.