What this does
The headline strip is the row of up to four tiles at the top of the card <State> labor market at a glance on a state page. Each tile is one number with a short label above it and a note under it. Together they give you the size of what the site covers for the state, and how the job market feels right now.
A student can see how many schools and fields of study the site can show for the state before searching. A parent can check the current unemployment rate in one glance. A counselor can tell whether a state has full coverage before sending a student to its pages.
The tiles are not links. They are a summary; the lists and charts below them carry the detail.
Before you start
- Open the state page for the state you care about. The tiles always describe that page's state. Picking another state in Showing data for opens that state's own page (see State pages).
- The tiles describe what the site has loaded for the state. They are not official totals from any one agency.
- Nothing needs to be set first. The tiles appear a moment after the page opens.
Step by step
- Open the state page and scroll to <State> labor market at a glance. The headline strip is the first thing under the heading and its one-line description.
- Read Universities. The number under it is a count of schools; the note says listed in <State>.
- Read Degree programs. The number is a count of fields of study; the note says fields of study offered in <State>.
- Read Careers. The number is a count of occupations; the note says occupations with <State> wage data.
- Read <State> unemployment. The number is a percentage with one decimal; the note says statewide, BLS (or District-wide, BLS for the District of Columbia).
- To see the month behind the unemployment rate and how it has moved, look at the line under the unemployment chart further down. It starts Latest: and gives the same rate with its month.
- To explore what the counts cover, use the Degrees and Careers cards or nav links. They open set to the same state.
The tile labels display in capital letters on screen (for example UNIVERSITIES); a screen reader reads them as normal words.
Every control explained
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showing data for (menu) | Above the page title | Opens the state page of the state you pick; its tiles count that state. | The state of the page you opened | United States goes to the home page, which has no headline counts. |
| The four tiles | Top of the labor-market card | Nothing; they are not links and cannot be clicked or sorted. | — | A tile is left out when its number cannot be worked out. |
| Degrees link (nav and page card) | Top of the page | Opens the degree list for the same state, where you can browse the fields of study the tile counts. | — | — |
| Careers link (nav and page card) | Top of the page | Opens the career list for the same state. | — | — |
| 5y / 10y buttons | Unemployment panel, below the strip | Change the chart only. The unemployment tile always shows the latest month and does not change. | 5y | — |
Reading the results
| Tile | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Universities listed in <State> | The schools the site lists for the state | Count of schools | NCES IPEDS institution data (the newest year loaded: 2024) and College Scorecard | Exactly the schools the site's school lists show for the state: one entry per school, present in the newest IPEDS year, leaving out schools that have dropped out of the current College Scorecard release (usually because they closed or merged). |
| Degree programs fields of study offered in <State> | How many fields of study the state's schools offer | Count of fields | College Scorecard Field of Study data (latest release loaded) | Distinct fields of study, at the level the federal program list groups them (for example, the various registered-nursing programs count once), with at least one program at a school in the state, leaving out schools no longer in College Scorecard. |
| Careers occupations with <State> wage data | How many careers have pay figures for the state | Count of occupations | BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (every year loaded; the newest is May 2024) | Distinct occupations with a median or average wage either statewide or in one of the state's metro areas, counted once each. Broad group totals are left out, and only occupations the site can name are counted. |
| <State> unemployment statewide, BLS | The latest monthly unemployment rate for the state | Percent, one decimal | BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics, not seasonally adjusted (latest month September 2026 as of early November 2026) | The newest month of the state's official series, the same value as the last point on the unemployment chart. |
The note under the unemployment tile
- statewide, BLS: the official statewide rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is what every state shows today.
- District-wide, BLS: the same, for the District of Columbia.
- metro-area average: shown only if the official statewide series is missing. The rate is then an average of the state's metro areas, weighted by how many people are in each one's labor force, using only months most metro areas have reported.
What differs by state
- The numbers, of course. Large states list hundreds of schools; small states far fewer.
- The District of Columbia says District-wide instead of statewide.
- Texas counts only schools that have both program and tuition data in the Texas data, so its Universities tile is smaller than the full federal list of Texas schools. Every other state counts every school its list shows.
When a tile is missing
- Each tile is drawn only when its number exists. If the school data, program data, wage data or unemployment series cannot be read for the state, that one tile is left out and the others move over. No "—" appears in its place.
- If all four are missing, the strip is empty.
- If the whole card could not load (outside Texas), a yellow note <State> data is still warming up. appears, and the strip may hold one different tile instead: <State> postings, with the note current sample. That is a count of the job postings sample, and the only postings count you will see on a state page. On the Texas page the whole card stays hidden instead.
- There is no tile for the number of job postings in normal use. The postings sample covers only part of the job market, so the site does not headline a total.
Read more about how the figures are produced.
Worked example
A parent in Vermont wants to know how much the site covers before helping their daughter look at schools.
- The parent opens the Vermont page. The card Vermont labor market at a glance loads with four tiles.
- Universities shows a count of schools, with listed in Vermont under it. These are the same schools the Degrees and school pages list for Vermont.
- Degree programs shows a larger count: the fields of study taught at those schools.
- Careers shows a count of the occupations with Vermont pay figures.
- Vermont unemployment shows a percentage with one decimal, with statewide, BLS under it.
- To see the month, the parent scrolls to the unemployment chart and reads the Latest: line, which repeats the rate with its month.
- Satisfied the coverage is there, the parent clicks Degrees in the nav. The degree list opens set to Vermont.
Common questions
- Why is the Universities number different from what the federal government lists?
- The tile counts the schools the site actually lists for the state: one entry per school, in the newest IPEDS year, without schools that have closed or merged. Federal lists can include branch campuses, closed schools or schools outside the newest year. In Texas the tile counts only schools with both program and tuition data, so it is smaller still.
- Why is a tile missing?
- A tile is drawn only when its number could be worked out. If one data source is missing for the state, that one tile is left out. The rest of the card still works.
- Why does the unemployment tile differ from the home page?
- The tile uses the series that is not seasonally adjusted. The home page's <State> vs U.S. view uses seasonally adjusted figures so the state and the U.S. compare like with like. Both come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Why did the unemployment tile change since my last visit?
- The newest month is a first estimate and is revised the next month; when a new month comes out, the tile moves to it.
- What does "metro-area average" mean?
- The official statewide rate was not available, so the tile shows an average of the state's metro areas, weighted by labor force. The unemployment panel says so too.
- Why is there no tile for job postings?
- The postings sample covers only part of the active job market, so a total would overstate what it shows. A postings count appears only in the warm-up case, when nothing else could load.
- Do the 5y and 10y buttons change the tile?
- No. The tile is always the latest month. The buttons change only the chart.
What this does NOT do
- It is not a job board and does not count open jobs.
- It is not advice; it is a summary of what the site has loaded.
- The counts are not official totals from any single agency, and the unemployment rate is an estimate that BLS revises.
- Nothing about you is stored. Sign-in is used only for saving reports.
- The tiles do not open anything when clicked, and they do not show a date; the month of the unemployment rate is on the unemployment panel.
Related
- State pages
- Unemployment trend
- Top growing careers
- Degrees guide and Careers guide
- Schools without tuition data
- Live pages: Degrees, Careers, Schools/Universities With No Tuition Data