Washington is the best state for jobs and West Virginia is the worst, according to analysis from personal finance website WalletHub released Nov. 29.
WalletHub determined the most attractive states for employment by looking at two key dimensions: job market and economic environment. The dimensions were evaluated using 34 metrics, including employment growth, worker protection scores, share of workers living in poverty, average length of workweek, average commute time and median annual income.
Below are the 15 states at the top of the list and the 15 at the bottom, along with their corresponding scores. The complete ranking and scoring methodology can be found here.
The best
1. Washington: 68.04
2. Virginia: 66.66
3. Utah: 64.53
4. Vermont: 64.19
5. Florida: 61.56
6. Maryland: 61.44
7. South Dakota: 61.35
8. Colorado: 61.33
9. Massachusetts: 59.82
10. Rhode Island: 59.73
11. New Hampshire: 59.53
12. Minnesota: 59.03
13. North Dakota: 58.65
14. Maine: 58.42
15. Texas: 57.82
The worst
1. West Virginia: 33.61
2. Kentucky: 34.16
3. Mississippi: 36.33
4. Louisiana: 43.87
5. Pennsylvania: 44.04
6. Indiana: 44.23
7. Oregon: 44.38
8. Arkansas: 45.89
9. Alabama: 46.62
10. Idaho: 46.74
11. Illinois: 47.6
12. Hawaii: 47.7
13. Montana: 48.1
14. Georgia: 48.19
15. North Carolina: 48.5