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Looking For Your First Job? These 10 States Have the Most Job Openings
Written by
Travis Woods
Edited by
Levi Leidy

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The primary question on the mind of anyone searching for a new job is likely some variation of, “Where are all the job openings at?” Where are they to be found? Where are they hiding at?
Luckily, the leading job search and recruitment firm Keller Executive Search recently conducted a study to discover which states in the U.S. had the most job openings per year, utilizing Bureau of Labor Statistics research regarding job vacancy and labor trends across the country. The study collated the percentage of job vacancy rates from 2019 to 2024 against the average population of each state, finding that job availability rates above 6% indicated a rather high job vacancy.
Alaska has the highest demand for workers in the country, far head of the next state on the list, West Virginia. There is no real regional concentration to the high demand for jobs, with the 10 states with the most job openings falling from the East Coast to the Midwest to the American South and Southwest.
Curious if your state is on the list? Want to know where to go to find the highest concentration of job openings? Keep reading.
Alaska
- Population: 733,406
- Job openings rate: 7.3%
West Virginia
- Population: 1,770,070
- Job opening rate: 6.7%
Montana
- Population: 1,132,810
- Job opening rate: 6.4%
South Carolina
- Population: 5,373,560
- Job opening rate: 6.3%
Georgia
- Population: 11,029,200
- Job opening rate: 6.2%
Maryland
- Population: 6,180,250
- Job opening rate: 6.1%
New Mexico
- Population: 2,114,370
- Job opening rate: 6.06%
Wyoming
- Population: 584,057
- Job opening rate: 6.1%
North Carolina
- Population: 10,835,500
- Job opening rate: 6.0%
Virginia
- Population: 8,715,700
- Job opening rate: 6.0%
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