Nevada, Maryland, and Virginia were the best states for Black employment in 2023 (the most recent year for which there is available data). These states had relatively high employment rates for both Black women and Black men, and relatively small employment rate gaps with their White peers. Unfortunately, the actions of the Trump administration will likely do serious damage to Black employment opportunities in Maryland and Virginia.

This report ranks states with sufficient available data on their relative employment opportunity for Black people. The overall ranking includes 28 states. The report also provides data on the White-Black employment-to-population ratio gaps and Black jobs deficits for men and women by state. The Black jobs deficit is the number of jobs Black people need to have the same employment-to-population ratio as their White peers.

How States Are Ranked

This report ranks states based on two measures. First, it uses the prime-age (25- to 54-year-olds) employment-to-population ratio or employment rate. The employment rate provides the percentage of a population that is working. The employment rate is a better measure for assessing Black joblessness than the unemployment rate. The technical definition of unemployment is complicated. Individuals can be jobless and want to work and yet still not meet the technical requirements needed to be counted as unemployed.¹ Because of the generally worse labor market conditions for Black people, they are more likely to be jobless but not technically counted as unemployed. For this and other reasons,² the unemployment rate undercounts Black joblessness.

This report uses the White prime-age employment rates as a realistic standard for where the Black prime-age employment rates should be. Using this benchmark yields a count of Black joblessness that can be two to three times that indicated by the official unemployment rate.³

After states are ranked based on their prime-age employment rates for Black women and men, they are also ranked based on their White-Black employment rate gaps for women and men. States with higher Black employment rates and smaller employment rate gaps have a higher overall ranking.

This analysis uses data from the most recent American Community Survey, which is for 2023. Only 28 states had sufficient data for the overall ranking. All of the following discussion of employment rates refers specifically to prime-age employment rates.

An important caveat: Residents of the  District of Columbia are denied full representation in Congress because the District is not a state. While there  is a push to make the District of Columbia a state⁴, and  a political argument for statehood, this report excludes the District of Columbia. Economically, the District of Columbia looks more like other major cities with large disadvantaged Black populations than states.

Employment is only one of three major labor market struggles facing Black America.⁵ There is also a need to improve job quality and to eliminate the overrepresentation of Black workers in lower-paying jobs. The ranking in this report is solely focused on employment opportunities. It does not consider job quality or occupational segregation.

Overall Ranking: Nevada is Best for Black Employment; Arkansas is Worst; And Second and Third Place are Under Threat

Table 1

Nevada was the best state for Black employment in 2023 (Table 1). Nevada had the highest employment rate for Black women (84.2 percent, Table 2a) and an above average employment rate for Black men (82.8 percent, Table 2b) among the 28 states with sufficient data. Nevada is one of only two states, Kentucky being the other, where neither the employment rate for Black men nor for Black women was statistically lower than their White peers.

Maryland was ranked second. In Maryland, Black women had an employment rate of 82.6 percent and Black men, 85.5 percent. While Black women’s employment rate was statistically equal to White women’s in Maryland, Black men’s rate was 5 percentage points lower than White men’s.

Virginia was ranked third. In Virginia, Black women’s employment rate was 81 percent, statistically equal to White women’s. Black men’s employment rate was 82.9 percent, 5.8 percentage points lower than the rate for White men.

Maryland and Virginia have been long-standing hubs for the country’s Black middle class because of employment in the federal government. The federal government historically has been the employer most committed to providing equal opportunity; as a result, Maryland and Virginia have large Black middle-class populations.⁶

Because of the Trump administration’s attacks on the federal government and federal workers, employment opportunities for Black people in Maryland and Virginia are likely to worsen. Among states and the District of Columbia, Virginia has the largest share of the total Black federal workforce (10.7 percent).⁷ Maryland has the fourth-largest share (9.5 percent), after the District of Columbia and Georgia.⁸ (Nevada’s share of the Black federal workforce is only 0.5 percent.⁹) As of the end of April, at least 121,000 federal workers were laid off or targeted for layoffs.¹⁰ Some of the positions (e.g., diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, positions¹¹) and agencies targeted by the Trump administration are likely to have an overrepresentation of Black workers. For example, the Trump administration has called for the dismantling of the Department of Education,¹² where more than a third of the staff are Black.¹³

In addition to the direct firings from federal jobs, Maryland and Virginia are also losing federal funding which will likely lead to additional job losses. At the end of April, the Department of Government Efficiency indicated that it had cancelled grants to Maryland totaling about $1.3 billion and to Virginia totaling about $1 billion.¹⁴ Maryland and Virginia could also lose federal funding from other cuts to federal aid to states.¹⁵ These actions by the Trump administration, in addition to Trump’s trade war, could significantly reduce Black employment in Maryland and Virginia and remove them from the top of the ranks for Black employment.

Arkansas was the worst state for Black employment by CEPR’s ranking. The employment rate for Black women was 72.6 percent. While this rate is far below the 84.2 percent rate of Black women in Nevada, the top-ranked state, it was not statistically different from the rate for White women in Arkansas. Arkansas’s low rank was also due to the poor employment opportunities for Black men in the state. The Black male employment rate was 71.2 percent, 13.2 percentage points below the rate for White men. Arkansas’s low Black employment rates for women and men and its large employment rate gap between White and Black men put it at the bottom of the ranking.

Jobs Gaps and Jobs Deficits for Black Women

Largest Jobs Gaps

When the labor market is tight, Black women’s employment rate can equal or even be slightly higher than the rate for White women.¹⁶ The 2023 labor market was tight. In only 5 of the 28 states with sufficient data were Black women’s employment rates lower than White women’s. The largest employment rate gaps were in Illinois (5.9 percentage points), Michigan (5.3 percentage points), and Pennsylvania (4.1 percentage points).

Largest Jobs Deficits

The Black jobs deficit refers to the number of jobs needed for Black people to have the same employment rate as White people. All else equal, states with larger Black populations will have larger jobs deficits.

New York had the largest jobs deficit (22,000 jobs) for Black women. Illinois had the second largest (20,000), and Michigan the third (14,000).

Jobs Gaps and Jobs Deficits for Black Men

While there are only 28 states with sufficient data for analysis for Black women, there are 31 states available for analysis for Black men.

Largest Jobs Gaps

While Black women had lower employment rates than White women in only 5 states, Black men had lower employment rates than White men in 28 out of 31 states. Even in a tight labor market, Black men’s employment situation is poor. And these estimates are not even adjusted for the ways that Black men’s joblessness is undercounted.¹⁷

Louisiana had the largest employment rate gap for Black men. In Louisiana, Black men’s employment rate was 15.4 percentage points below that of White men. Illinois was the second worst with a gap of 15 percentage points. Arkansas was third with a gap of 13.2 percentage points.

Largest Jobs Deficits

Georgia had the largest jobs deficit for Black men. Black men needed 48,000 jobs to have the same employment rate as White men in Georgia. Texas was next with a deficit of 46,000, and Illinois was third with a deficit of 43,000.

Conclusion

In 2023, the labor market continued to be strong, and nationally the Black employment rate increased. But in several states, Black employment rates – particularly for Black men –  were still lower than those of their White peers. Overall, CEPR ranked Nevada, Maryland, and Virginia as the best states for Black employment. Unfortunately, actions by the Trump administration present serious threats to Black employment, especially in Maryland and Virginia.

Arkansas, Michigan, and Illinois were the worst states for Black employment. These states should explore using subsidized employment¹⁸ and targeted economic development to reduce the rate of joblessness in their Black populations.

Additional Methodology Notes

This report builds on the methodology from “Unequal Employment: Black Jobs Gaps and Deficits by State.”¹⁹ The employment-to-population ratios or employment rates were calculated with 90-percent confidence intervals. Estimates with non-overlapping White and Black intervals are considered to be different. If the estimates are statistically equal or the Black rate is higher than the White rate, no jobs deficit is calculated.

If the White and Black confidence intervals overlap, they are not considered to be statistically equal unless the length of the Black confidence interval is not more than 10 percent of the Black estimate. For example, for Black men in Nebraska, the employment rate estimate was 79.9 percent, while it was 93.1 percent for White men. However, the confidence interval for the Black estimate spanned from 70.6 to 86.8, or 16.2 points. 16.2/79.9 = 0.203 or 20.3 percent of the estimate. The range of the confidence interval was too large to be included. Nebraska has insufficient data for Black men to be included.

Data Tables

Table 2a

Table 2b