What this does
This panel sits on each state's own page, in the labor market at a glance card, next to the top-paying list. It answers one question: which careers have the most hiring in your state? It answers it in one of two ways, depending on the state.
- Texas and California show Most-hired <State> careers right now: up to ten careers ranked by how many job postings from the last 12 months the site holds for them.
- Every other state and the District of Columbia show Most job openings each year in <State>: up to ten careers ranked by the state's official projection of openings per year.
The split is on purpose. Only Texas and California have enough postings for a ranking to mean something. Elsewhere, the official projections are a steadier guide.
- Students see which careers employers fill most often, a hint at where entry points are.
- Parents can tell a career with steady openings from one with only a few.
- Counselors get a sourced list to set beside the top-growing and top-paying lists.
Before you start
- Open your state's page. The panel is only on state pages. See State pages for how to reach them.
- Check "Showing data for". It names the state you are looking at, and that state decides which version of the panel you see. Picking another state on a state page opens that state's own page. See Choosing a state.
- Know which version you are reading. Read the heading. "Most-hired … right now" is built from job postings. "Most job openings each year" is built from long-term projections.
- Expect a ranking, not counts. The postings version never shows how many postings a career has. Only the order is meaningful.
Step by step
- Open your state's page and scroll to the <State> labor market at a glance card. The panel is in the third row, on the right (on a narrow screen it comes after the top-paying list).
- Read the heading. In Texas or California it is Most-hired <State> careers right now. Anywhere else it is Most job openings each year in <State>.
- Read the grey line under the heading. It says how the list is ranked and where the data comes from (the exact wording is in "Reading the results" below).
- Read the list. Each row has a rank number and a career name. In the openings version, a number on the right reads "… openings a year". In the postings version the right side is blank on purpose.
- Click a career name. The career's summary on Careers opens with that career already chosen and your state kept. Two group names in the openings version are plain text, not links.
- To compare states, pick another one in Showing data for. The page reloads; the panel switches version if the new state uses the other one.
Every control explained
The panel has no inputs of its own. These are the things you can click, and one nearby control that does not change it.
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showing data for menu | Top of the page, under the menu bar | Opens the state page of the state you pick. Its panel shows that state's list, in the postings version for Texas and California and the openings version elsewhere. United States takes you to the home page. | The state the page belongs to | Your pick is remembered in your browser for other pages. |
| Career name in a row | Each row of either version | Opens that career's summary on Careers, with the career chosen and your state kept. | — | Use it to see pay, outlook and paths into the career. |
| Group name shown as plain text | Openings version only | Nothing; it is not a link. | — | Two groups the projections publish have no single career page: Home Health and Personal Care Aides and Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary. They are named but not linked. |
| 5y / 10y buttons | Unemployment chart, in the row above | Only the unemployment chart. | 5y | This panel does not change with the range. |
Reading the results
Texas and California: Most-hired careers right now
| Item | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most-hired <State> careers right now | Heading | — | — | Fixed text with the state's name. |
| Line under the heading | How to read the list | — | The site's job postings sample | California: Top occupations across postings from the last 12 months (rank order, not raw counts). Texas: Ranked by Texas job postings from the last 12 months (deduped). Counts not shown — the postings sample covers only part of the active market, so order is meaningful but absolute volumes aren't. |
| Rank number and career name | A career's place by number of postings | Position | Job postings the site holds for the state, from the last 12 months | Postings matched to a career with high confidence and dated within the last 12 months are counted per career; the ten largest are listed, largest first. A posting is dated by its posting date, or, when the source gave none, by the day the site collected it. |
| Right-hand column | Left blank | — | — | Counts are never shown, because the sample is only part of the market. |
What the sample is. The postings are job ads the site has collected for the state, with repeats removed. Since October 2026, new postings come only from free public sources: mostly federal job listings (USAJobs) plus a few employer job boards. Texas and California also keep postings collected from paid job-data providers in the months before the site stopped using them. Only postings matched to a career with high confidence are counted.
What the sample is not. It is not every open job in the state, and it is not a measure of hiring volume. It leans toward the kinds of employers that post on those sources, such as government and tech. "Right now" means the last 12 months: the ranking counts only postings dated within the 12 months before today, so older postings, including most of the paid-provider history, drop out as they age. Each state's Jobs Trends page says how much of the market its postings cover.
Rows. Up to ten. The list appears only when the leading career has at least 30 postings; below that, the order would be noise, and the panel shows a message instead.
Other states: Most job openings each year
| Item | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most job openings each year in <State> | Heading | — | — | Fixed text with the state's name. |
| Line under the heading | Period and source | — | State long-term occupational projections | Reads Projected average openings a year, <start>–<end>, from new jobs and from workers leaving or retiring. Source: state long-term occupational projections (Projections Central). The period is 2022–2032 in most states. New York names the New York State Department of Labor and Hawaii the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, both for 2024–2034. |
| Rank number and career name | A career's place by projected openings | Position | Same | Careers ranked by average openings a year, most first; the ten largest are listed. |
| "… openings a year" | How many openings the state expects in that career, on average, each year of the period | Openings per year, rounded to a whole number | Same | Counts openings from new jobs plus openings left by people retiring or changing careers. The projections publish thousands; the page shows the full number. |
Left out: "All Other" catch-all groups, which mix unlike jobs, and totals for whole occupation groups. Only the newest projection period for each career is used.
Messages instead of a list
- Too few current postings in <State> to rank careers by hiring. (California) The postings were too few to rank. When the site can measure it, a second sentence follows, such as "Postings for California cover an estimated …% of the active market." or "… cover less than 1% of the active market."
- Postings not yet enriched for this state. (California) No postings for the state have been loaded yet.
- Too few current postings in Texas to rank careers by hiring. (Texas) Texas has postings, but the leading career has fewer than 30, or only one or two careers qualified. Same wording as California.
- No recent postings. (Texas) No postings for Texas are loaded at all.
- Long-term projections not yet ingested for this state. (openings version) No projections were found.
- Too few occupations with projected openings in <State> to rank. (openings version) Only one or two careers qualified.
- <State>'s published projections count only newly created jobs, not openings from people retiring or changing careers, so we don't rank careers by openings here. The state's openings figures leave out people leaving jobs, so they would understate every career. No state shows this today; it is a guard for future data.
Any list needs at least three named careers; with one or two, the panel shows one of the "Too few" messages. To learn more, read how the figures are produced.
Worked example
A parent in Georgia wants to know which careers are hiring most, then checks a cousin's state, California.
- On the Georgia page, the panel reads Most job openings each year in Georgia. The grey line names the period, 2022–2032, and the source, the state's long-term projections through Projections Central.
- The list shows ten careers. Each has a whole number followed by "openings a year", largest at the top. Careers with many workers and frequent turnover tend to sit near the top, because openings include people leaving, not only new jobs.
- She clicks one career name and reads its summary on Careers: typical pay, outlook and paths in.
- Back on the state page, she picks California in Showing data for. The California page opens. Its panel reads Most-hired California careers right now with the line Top occupations across postings from the last 12 months (rank order, not raw counts).
- The California list shows ranked career names with no numbers beside them. She reads it as "these careers show up most often in the job ads the site holds", not as a count of hires.
Common questions
- Why does my state show "openings each year" instead of "most hired"?
- Only Texas and California have enough job postings to rank careers fairly. In other states the postings come mostly from federal listings and cover a small share of jobs, so a postings ranking would rest on too few ads and lean toward government jobs. The official projections cover every career.
- Why are there no numbers on the Texas and California list?
- The postings are a sample, not every open job. A count would look more exact than it is. The order is still useful: a career near the top shows up more often in the sample.
- Does "right now" mean this week?
- No. It means the last 12 months: the ranking counts postings dated within the 12 months before today. A posting with no date from its source is dated by the day the site collected it.
- Why do large, everyday careers rank so high on the openings list?
- Openings include people leaving or retiring, not only new jobs. Large careers with high turnover have the most openings, even when they are not growing. See Top growing careers for growth.
- Why is a career name not clickable?
- Two groups in the projections, Home Health and Personal Care Aides and Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary, do not match a single career page on the site, so they are named without a link.
- Why does New York or Hawaii show a different period?
- Those two states have published their 2024–2034 projections, and the site uses them. Other states' newest loaded release is 2022–2032.
- The panel says "Too few current postings". Is something broken?
- No. The leading career needs at least 30 postings before the panel ranks anything. The extra sentence, when shown, says how much of the market the postings cover.
What this does NOT do
- It is not a job board. Nothing here links to job ads or lets you apply. To apply, go to the employer's own site.
- It does not count hires. The postings version ranks a sample of job ads; the openings version is a projection.
- It is not advice, and projections are estimates, not promises.
- It does not show posting counts, and it does not narrow the 12-month window to a recent week or month.
- It stores nothing about you. You do not need an account; signing in is only for saving reports.
Related
- State pages
- Top growing careers
- Top-paying careers
- Real-wage winners and losers
- Jobs Trends, which says how much of the market each state's postings cover
- Careers
- Privacy and limits
- Live pages: Jobs Trends, Careers