KEY HIGHLIGHTS
● New Jersey ranks 8th in the nation with an average unemployment rate of 5.08% across four measured periods, sitting 1.04 percentage points above the national benchmark of 4.04%.
● New Jersey peaked at 5.9% in July 2025, the highest single monthly reading recorded by the state during the study period.
● New Jersey recorded the largest combined year-over-year improvement among all top-ten states, declining 1.0 percentage points in June and 1.3 percentage points in July 2026, though its average across all four periods remains above 5.00%.
New Jersey’s job market recorded the sharpest year-over-year improvement of any state in the top ten nationally, yet still carries an average unemployment rate that places it 8th in the country. While the U.S. unemployment rate averaged 4.04% across the four periods measured in this study, New Jersey averaged 5.08%, a gap of 1.04 percentage points that reflects how elevated the state’s starting point was before conditions began to improve.
An analysis conducted by Kendra’s Boutique Inc. used unemployment data for all 50 U.S. states was sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) report, covering four periods: June 2025, July 2025, June 2026, and July 2026. States were ranked by their four-period average unemployment rate, from highest to lowest.
Top 10 States With the Highest Average Unemployment Rates Across the United States
| Rank | State | Jun 2025 | Jul 2025 | Jun 2026 | Jul 2026 | Avg Rate |
| 1 | California | 5.6% | 5.9% | 5.2% | 5.3% | 5.50% |
| 2 | Michigan | 5.2% | 5.7% | 5.1% | 5.4% | 5.35% |
| 3 | Oregon | 5.1% | 5.5% | 5.3% | 5.3% | 5.30% |
| 4 | Kentucky | 4.9% | 5.3% | 5.6% | 5.1% | 5.22% |
| 5 | Nevada | 5.4% | 5.5% | 4.9% | 5.1% | 5.22% |
| 6 | Arizona | 4.6% | 4.8% | 5.5% | 5.5% | 5.10% |
| 7 | New Mexico | 4.6% | 5.1% | 5.1% | 5.6% | 5.10% |
| 8 | New Jersey | 5.4% | 5.9% | 4.4% | 4.6% | 5.08% |
| 9 | Delaware | 4.8% | 5.1% | 4.9% | 4.8% | 4.90% |
| 10 | Illinois | 4.6% | 4.7% | 5.1% | 4.6% | 4.75% |
New Jersey ranks 8th among all 50 states with an average unemployment rate of 5.08%, sitting 0.02 percentage points below New Mexico at 5.10% and 0.18 percentage points above Delaware at 4.90% in the position below. The state recorded the largest combined year-over-year improvement among the top ten, declining 1.0 percentage points in June and 1.3 percentage points in July 2026 compared to the prior year. Despite this improvement, New Jersey’s average across all four periods remains firmly above 5.00%, underscoring how far conditions had risen before the correction began.
New Jersey Among All Northeast States: Unemployment Rankings Across the Region
| Nat. Rank | State | Jun 2025 | Jul 2025 | Jun 2026 | Jul 2026 | Avg Rate | Northeast Rank |
| 8 | New Jersey | 5.4% | 5.9% | 4.4% | 4.6% | 5.08% | 1 |
| 11 | Connecticut | 3.6% | 4.3% | 4.9% | 5.8% | 4.65% | 2 |
| 14 | Massachusetts | 4.5% | 4.7% | 4.2% | 4.7% | 4.53% | 3 |
| 18 | New York | 4.1% | 4.8% | 4.4% | 4.2% | 4.38% | 4 |
| 22 | Pennsylvania | 4.5% | 4.8% | 3.9% | 3.8% | 4.25% | 5 |
| 34 | Rhode Island | 4.0% | 4.4% | 3.2% | 3.6% | 3.80% | 6 |
| 44 | Maine | 2.8% | 3.0% | 2.7% | 3.0% | 2.88% | 7 |
| 45 | New Hampshire | 3.0% | 3.2% | 2.5% | 2.7% | 2.85% | 8 |
| 48 | Vermont | 2.6% | 2.6% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.55% | 9 |
Within the Northeast region, New Jersey ranks 1st among all 9 states with an average unemployment rate of 5.08%, sitting 1.20 percentage points above the regional average of 3.88% and more than double the rate recorded by Vermont, the region’s lowest performer at 2.55%. Five of the 9 northeastern states sit at or above the national average of 4.04%, and New Jersey leads that group by a significant margin, representing the most acute labor market challenge in the Northeast.
Looking at the study, Kendra Cooksey, Founder & CEO of Kendra’s Boutique Inc., commented:
“New Jersey’s 5.08% average unemployment rate puts it 8th nationally, but the more telling figure is the trajectory: declining 1.0 percentage point in June and 1.3 percentage points in July year-over-year represents the largest combined improvement of any top-ten state in this study. The state peaked at 5.9% in July 2025 and has been pulling back since. Whether that improvement holds into future periods will be the key question for New Jersey workers and employers alike.”
U.S. Unemployment by Region: How the Four Major Regions Compare on Average Jobless Rates
| Rank | Region | States in Region | Avg Unemployment Rate |
| 1 | West | 13 states | 4.22% |
| 2 | South | 16 states | 4.21% |
| 3 | Northeast | 9 states | 3.88% |
| 4 | Midwest | 12 states | 3.75% |
The Northeast region, which includes New Jersey, records an average unemployment rate of 3.88%, ranking third among all four U.S. regions and sitting below both the West at 4.22% and the South at 4.21%, but above the Midwest at 3.75%. New Jersey’s outsized average of 5.08% stands 1.20 percentage points above the regional figure and pulls the Northeast’s rate meaningfully higher than it would otherwise be, making the state the primary driver of elevated unemployment within an otherwise relatively healthy regional labor market.
Methodology
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) report provided the unemployment data for this research. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) report, specifically page 11, provides seasonally adjusted state-level unemployment figures. The researchers collected data across four distinct monthly snapshots: June 2025, July 2025, June 2026, and July 2026. The researchers included all 50 U.S. states in the analysis. Researchers assigned each state a rank based on its four-period average unemployment rate. They calculated this average by summing the four monthly readings and then sorting the states from highest to lowest unemployment rate. We chose this approach to smooth out single-month volatility and produce a stable comparative measure of each state’s labor market conditions over the period studied.
Data Sources
● U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS), Table Seasonally Adjusted State Unemployment Rates, Page 11: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/laus.pdf
● Research Dataset: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hPswf_Ig7bWSDQwArLo4fYn8rtvhEWpdTSHbTJKuRIc/edit?gid=0#gid=0
● Research by: https://kendrasboutique.com/
About Kendra’s Boutique Inc.
Kendra’s Boutique Inc. is a woman-owned beauty brand specializing in luxury wigs, raw hair extensions, and HD lace products. We are interested in opportunities that highlight entrepreneurship, business growth, beauty trends, women’s empowerment, e-commerce success, and the hair extension industry. We welcome features in beauty, fashion, lifestyle, and business publications, and are focused on increasing national brand awareness and authority.