States ranked by unemployment recovery — Florida is No. 1

For the study, researchers examined initial unemployment claims for the week of Oct. 25, 2021 for each state. That data was compared to the number of unemployment claims in 2019, the start of 2020 and the week of Oct. 25 in 2020. Researchers also compared initial unemployment claims at the start of the pandemic with the same period this year.

Some insights into the rankings and scores: 

• There are approximately 7.7 million Americans unemployed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment claims have declined 96 percent since the pandemic started.
• Oregon and Washington, D.C., have unemployment claims in the week of Oct. 25, 2021, that were worse than the same period in 2020.
• Arkansas, Virginia and North Dakota had the smallest increases in unemployment claims in the week of Oct. 25, 2021, than in the same period in 2019. Washington, D.C., Kentucky and Tennessee had the largest increase in unemployment claims during the same time frame.
• Unemployment claims in 23 states were lower during the week of Oct. 25, 2021, than they were before the start of the pandemic.

Here are the rankings for each state and Washington, D.C.

1. Florida
2. New Hampshire
3. South Carolina
4. Kansas
5. South Dakota
6. North Carolina
7. Georgia
8. Washington
9. Arizona
10. Minnesota
11. Arkansas
12. Maine
13. Mississippi
14. Louisiana
15. Kentucky
16. North Dakota
17. Iowa
18. New York
19. Indiana
20. Nebraska
21. Massachusetts
22. New Jersey
23. Nevada
24. Hawaii
25. Montana
26. California
27. Michigan
28. Colorado
29. Pennsylvania
30. Missouri
31. Tennessee
32. Maryland
33. Oklahoma
34. Connecticut
35. Wyoming
36. Alabama
37. Idaho
38. Texas
39. Illinois
40. Virginia
41. Wisconsin
42. Alaska
43. Ohio
44. Vermont
45. Utah
46. Oregon
47. West Virginia
48. New Mexico
49. Delaware
50. Rhode Island
51. Washington, D.C.