Economic fluctuations over the past three years have been so volatile, many Americans have been left reeling trying to keep up with what to expect. The COVID-19 pandemic brought the economy to a near halt in 2020, when the unemployment rate shot up to an all-time record of 14.7% in April 2020. Both the overall rate of 14.7% and the 10.3% jump from the prior month were the highest on record since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping statistics in January 1948.
While the economy has begun to stabilize, both in terms of the unemployment rate and year-over-year GDP, many parts of the country have experienced significant economic fluctuations, some for the better, but many for the worse. Though record high inflation has begun to chill some, an overall increase in cost of living has left a trace. Some states have already rebounded nearly to pre-pandemic levels, while others struggle to return to a state of balance.
To determine which economies are thriving and which are failing, GOBankingRates took a look at a variety of economic factors, from year-over-year GDP growth rate and unemployment rates to wage changes and the percentage of a state’s population that is living in poverty. States — including Washington D.C., which is not a state, but a sizable economy — were divided into the top 15 and the bottom 15. Read on to find out which states are at the bottom and the top of this split recovery.
