What this does
Every state, plus the District of Columbia, has its own state page: 51 in all. A state page is a home page for one state. It shows the same tiles to every tool on the site, and below them a card called <State> labor market at a glance with six panels about that state's jobs and pay.
Use it when you want a quick read on one state before you dig in. A student can see which careers are growing and which pay the most where they live. A parent can check how the state's unemployment rate has moved over five or ten years. A counselor can open the page for the state a student plans to move to and compare it with home.
Every career name on the page is a link. Every link to another page keeps the state, so the tools you open next show that same state.
What is on a state page, top to bottom
- The nav bar: Home, How-To Guide, ROI Calculator, Degrees, Careers, Non-Degree, Compare, Jobs Trends, Jobs History, then the beta badge with the site version.
- Showing data for: the state menu, just above the title. It shows the state of the page you opened.
- The title area: Samantar™ — See the trade‑offs clearly, and a sentence that ends Showing <State>. (for the District of Columbia: Showing Washington, DC (District of Columbia).).
- Eight page cards: How-To Guide, Careers, Degrees, Compare, Jobs Trends, ROI Calculator, Non-Degree Pathways and Schools/Universities With No Tuition Data, each with one line on what the page does. The Degrees and Jobs Trends cards name the state. Under the cards, the Important: note says Samantar is a research and decision-support tool, not a job board.
- <State> labor market at a glance: the six panels, in this order:
- Headline numbers: four tiles with counts of universities, degree programs and careers, and the latest unemployment rate.
- Top growing careers: Top growing <State> careers (10-yr forecast).
- Unemployment trend: Unemployment rate, last 5 years, with 5y and 10y buttons.
- Top-paying careers: Top-paying <State> careers.
- Hiring panel: Most job openings each year in <State> in 49 places; Most-hired <State> careers right now in Texas and California.
- Real-wage winners and losers: Pay that grew faster than inflation in <State> and Pay that fell behind inflation in <State>.
- The Problem Samantar Solves: a short card on why the site exists. It is the same on every state page.
- The footer: About, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Disclaimer, Contact Us and Report a problem, then the legal notes.
Before you start
- Know which state you care about. It may be the state you live in, the state where you plan to study, or the state where you hope to work. Each has its own page.
- How you get to a state page. At the bottom of every page, open State pages in the footer and click a state's name. You can also arrive from a search engine result, a shared link or a bookmark. Once you are on one, the address bar picks up the state, so a bookmark you save keeps it.
- The state comes from the page itself. Opening a state page does not change your saved state choice. Your choice is saved when you pick a state in Showing data for, or when you follow a link from a state page to another page (that page arrives with the state attached and remembers it).
- Nothing else is needed. You do not need to sign in. The panels load on their own a moment after the page opens.
How a state page differs from the home page
The home page and a state page share the tiles, but their labor-market cards are different.
| Home page | State page | |
|---|---|---|
| Card heading | U.S. labor market at a glance when no state is chosen; <State> vs U.S. once you pick a state | <State> labor market at a glance |
| What it compares | The whole country, or your state beside the U.S. figure for the same thing | The state on its own, with no U.S. column |
| Unemployment | Seasonally adjusted, so state and U.S. compare like with like | Not seasonally adjusted, the state's official monthly series |
| Panels only it has | Jobs by industry; the hires, openings and quits chart (U.S. view) | The headline counts of universities, degree programs and careers |
| Where the state comes from | Your pick in Showing data for | The page you opened |
See National overview for the home page card.
Step by step
- Open the state page from State pages in the footer of any page, or from a search result, a shared link or a bookmark. The nav, the Showing data for menu (set to that state) and the title area appear at once.
- Read the sentence under the title. It ends Showing <State>., so you know which state the page is about.
- Scroll past the eight page cards. The card <State> labor market at a glance appears once its data arrives, with a line under the heading: Snapshot of the <State> labor market — careers, wages, hiring, and outlook — drawn from BLS, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and current job postings. Click any career name to drill into its details.
- Read the four headline tiles. Each is a single number with a short label under it. See Headline numbers.
- Read Top growing <State> careers (10-yr forecast): up to ten careers, each with a green percentage. See Top growing careers.
- Look at Unemployment rate, last 5 years. Click 10y to stretch the chart to ten years; click 5y to go back. Only the chart, its heading and the line under it change. See Unemployment trend.
- Read Top-paying <State> careers: up to ten careers with a yearly median wage in dollars. See Top-paying careers.
- Read the hiring panel beside it: Most job openings each year in <State> (or Most-hired <State> careers right now in Texas and California). See Most-hired careers right now.
- Read the two wage lists at the bottom: Pay that grew faster than inflation in <State> and Pay that fell behind inflation in <State>, up to five careers each. See Real-wage winners and losers.
- Click any career name in any list. The Careers page opens with that career already chosen, showing its summary for this state.
- To move on, click a nav link or a page card, for example Degrees. That page opens already set to this state.
- To see another state, open Showing data for and pick it. The page reloads with the new state's panels (see "Picking another state on a state page" below). Pick United States to go to the home page with U.S. figures.
Picking another state on a state page
When you pick a state in Showing data for while you are on a state page, the site saves the new state as your choice and opens that state's own page. Everything on it, the title, the line naming the state, the six panels, the cards and the sources line, is for the state you picked. So:
- Picking Florida on the California page opens the Florida page.
- Picking United States takes you to the home page with U.S. figures, and forgets your saved state.
- An old bookmark or link that opens one state's page with another state in its address goes straight to the named state's own page, so a page never shows one state's name over another state's figures.
- With a mouse or a tap, the switch happens as soon as you pick. With the keyboard, moving through the list does not switch yet: press Enter, or move focus away, to switch. Escape puts the current state back.
Every control explained
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showing data for (menu) | Just above the title | Saves a new state and reloads this page with it. The labor-market card and every link switch; some fixed wording does not (see above). United States goes to the home page. | The state of the page you opened | The list comes from the server. While it loads, or if it fails, it holds only the current state. If a state is not offered on this server, the menu shows Choose a state and the note Data for this state isn't available yet. Choose a state to continue. |
| Nav bar links | Top of the page | Open Home, How-To Guide, ROI Calculator, Degrees, Careers, Non-Degree, Compare, Jobs Trends or Jobs History, set to this state. | — | Home is marked as the current page. It opens the home page, which shows <State> vs U.S. for this state. |
| How-To Guide card | Page cards | Opens this guide. | — | Start here if you are new. |
| Careers card | Page cards | Opens the career list for this state. | — | Search by title, license or credential. |
| Degrees card | Page cards | Opens the degree list for this state. | — | The card text names the state of the page you opened. |
| Compare card | Page cards | Opens Compare: careers, degrees or non-degree pathways, each compared side by side with its own kind. | — | — |
| Jobs Trends card | Page cards | Opens Jobs Trends: a sample of current postings for this state. | — | Not a job board; you cannot apply for jobs there. |
| ROI Calculator card | Page cards | Opens the calculator for this state. | — | Tuition, aid, projected earnings and loan repayment over ten years. |
| Non-Degree Pathways card | Page cards | Opens certificates, licenses, apprenticeships, academies and direct-entry routes for this state. | — | — |
| Schools/Universities With No Tuition Data card | Page cards | Opens the list of schools left out of ROI figures because tuition data is missing. | — | Check here if a school you expect is missing from the calculator. |
| Career names in the lists | Top growing, top-paying, hiring and wage panels | Open the Careers page with that career already chosen, for this state. | — | A name shown in plain dark text (not blue) has no career page; this happens for a few grouped occupations in the openings list. |
| 5y button | Unemployment panel | Shows the last 5 years of monthly rates. | Selected | Changes only the chart, its heading and the note under it. |
| 10y button | Unemployment panel | Shows up to the last 10 years. | Not selected | The heading says how many years actually came back if there are fewer. |
| Footer links | Bottom of the page | Open About, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Disclaimer and Contact Us, set to this state. | — | — |
| Report a problem | Footer | Opens your email program with a message to the site team, with the page name filled in. | — | Say which state and which panel looked wrong. |
Reading the results
Each panel has its own guide page with every number explained. This table is the short version.
| Item | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Universities tile | Schools the site lists for the state | Count | NCES IPEDS (newest year loaded, 2024) and College Scorecard | One entry per school in the newest IPEDS year, leaving out schools that have closed or merged. |
| Degree programs tile | Fields of study offered at the state's schools | Count | College Scorecard Field of Study data | Distinct fields of study with at least one program at a listed school. |
| Careers tile | Occupations with wage data in the state | Count | BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | Distinct named occupations with a statewide or metro-area wage. |
| <State> unemployment tile | Latest monthly unemployment rate | Percent, one decimal | BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics, not seasonally adjusted | The newest month of the series in the unemployment panel. |
| Top growing careers | Careers projected to grow fastest | Percent change over ten years | State long-term occupational projections, 2022–2032 in most states; 2024–2034 in New York and Hawaii | Growing occupations with at least 5,000 projected jobs, largest percentage first, top ten. |
| Unemployment chart | Monthly unemployment rate | Percent | BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics, not seasonally adjusted; latest month September 2026 as of early November 2026 | The state's official monthly rate, last 60 or 120 months. |
| Top-paying careers | Careers with the highest typical yearly pay | Dollars a year (median) | BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024, statewide | Statewide median for occupations with more than 500 jobs, highest first, top ten. |
| Most job openings each year | Careers with the most yearly openings | Openings a year | State long-term occupational projections | Projected average openings a year from new jobs and from workers leaving or retiring, top ten. |
| Most-hired careers right now (Texas, California) | Careers that appear most in current postings | Rank order only, no counts | Current job postings sample | Postings matched to careers, counted and ranked; shown only when the sample is large enough. |
| Pay that grew faster / fell behind inflation | Change in real median pay | Percent change after inflation | BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 against about ten years earlier; BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) | The older median restated in today's dollars, then compared with the latest median; up to five each. |
| Sources: line | The data sources behind the card | Text | — | Fixed text typed into the page. Where it differs from a panel's own label, the panel's label is current. |
When the card shows a warm-up note
If the state's data cannot be loaded, the card still appears (except on the Texas page) with a yellow note that starts <State> data is still warming up. In that case the headline strip may hold a single tile, <State> postings with the label current sample, and each list shows a one-line "not yet" message instead of rows. This is the only place a state page ever shows a count of postings.
If the server says the state's data is not on it yet, the whole page is replaced by one line: Data for <State> isn't available yet. Please check back soon.
What is different on the Texas page
- There is no Showing Texas. sentence under the title. Instead, a Coverage: card lists the states the site covers.
- There is no warm-up note. If the Texas data cannot be loaded, the labor-market card stays hidden.
- The top-growing panel names its source and period: TWC Long-Term Occupational Projections, 2022-2032.
- The hiring panel is Most-hired Texas careers right now, ranked from Texas job postings from the last 12 months.
- Months on the unemployment panel read as year and month, and the chart's line is labelled Texas unemployment rate.
- The wage lists do not add the small year-span note that other states show when an occupation's starting year is not exactly ten years back.
Read more about how the figures are produced.
Worked example
A school counselor in Ohio prepares for a meeting with a junior who wants to stay in the state.
- The counselor opens the Ohio page from a bookmark. The menu reads Ohio, and the sentence under the title ends Showing Ohio.
- The card Ohio labor market at a glance loads. The headline strip shows four tiles: how many universities the site lists for Ohio, how many fields of study they offer, how many careers have Ohio wage data, and the latest Ohio unemployment rate with the label statewide, BLS.
- Under Top growing Ohio careers (10-yr forecast) the counselor sees up to ten careers, each with a green percentage: its projected growth over ten years.
- The counselor clicks 10y on the unemployment chart. The heading changes to Unemployment rate, last 10 years (or fewer, if fewer years came back), and the note under the chart gives the latest rate, its month, and the change in percentage points over the span.
- Top-paying Ohio careers lists ten careers with a yearly median in dollars. Most job openings each year in Ohio beside it lists the careers with the most openings a year, with the projection years in its label.
- The wage lists at the bottom show up to five careers whose pay beat inflation and up to five whose pay fell behind.
- The counselor clicks one of the growing careers. The Careers page opens with that career chosen, already set to Ohio.
- From there the counselor clicks Degrees in the nav to see Ohio schools for a related degree. The degree pages stay on Ohio without a new pick.
Common questions
- How do I find a state page?
- Open State pages in the footer at the bottom of any page: it lists every state by name, and each name opens that state's page. You can also arrive from a search engine, a shared link or a bookmark. Inside the site, the Showing data for menu does the same job: on a state page, picking a state opens that state's page; on other pages, the page you are on switches to the state.
- I picked Florida on the California page. Where did the California page go?
- Picking a state on a state page opens that state's own page, so you are now on the Florida page, with Florida's figures and Florida's wording throughout. Use your browser's back button, or pick California again, to return.
- Why does the home page show different numbers from the state page?
- The home page compares your state with the U.S. using seasonally adjusted unemployment, so both sides are measured the same way. The state page shows the official monthly series that is not seasonally adjusted. The two rates for the same month can differ. The home page also shows U.S. columns the state page does not have.
- Why is the hiring panel different in Texas and California?
- Only Texas and California have job-postings samples large enough to rank careers by hiring. Everywhere else the panel ranks careers by projected openings a year from the state's long-term projections. See Most-hired careers right now.
- A panel says "Too few occupations … to rank." Is something broken?
- No. A list needs at least three careers before the site ranks them. With one or two, the panel says so in one line instead of showing a near-empty list. It happens most in small states.
- Why does the newest unemployment month change?
- The newest month is a first estimate. BLS revises it the next month, and the site takes the revised figure, so the last point on the chart and the unemployment tile can change a little.
- Why is there no count of job postings?
- The postings sample covers only part of the active job market, so a raw count would suggest more than it shows. The site shows postings as a rank order, never a total. The one exception is the warm-up tile, which appears only when the rest of the card could not load.
- The District of Columbia is not a state. Does its page differ?
- Only in wording: it says District-wide where other pages say statewide, and names itself Washington, DC (District of Columbia) under the title.
What this does NOT do
- It is not a job board. You cannot apply for jobs here, and the site does not recruit.
- It is not advice. The panels describe a state's labor market; they do not tell you what to study or where to work.
- Projections and wages are estimates from public data, not guarantees for any one person.
- Nothing about you is stored. Your state choice lives only in your own browser. Sign-in is used only for saving reports.
- It does not compare the state with the U.S.; the home page does that once you pick a state.
- It does not move you to another state's page when you pick a state; it reloads the page you are on.
- It does not show a "data as of" date for the whole card. The dates you see are the unemployment month, the wage-list years and the projection years in the hiring panel.