How to Read the Infographic
The infographic shows which are the most common industries in every American state. The data team at SignalHire displayed the sectors with the most workers in each state. You can also view the top position in each state, and we also put together data on the top 10 USA positions.
Why is the share of industries in some states higher, and the opposite in others?
It’s about the diversity or the uniformity of the respective state’s economy. The figures you see largely depend on the size of the state as well as on the economic output. For instance, in New York, California, and Colorado the IT sector leads with 14%, 14%, and 21% because those are influential technology hubs—but the two states are some of the wealthiest in the country, and the variety of jobs is enormous.
On the other hand, less populated and less wealthy states such as Kansas saw 68% of SignalHire searches for the engineering industry. That’s because this sector leads by all accounts in that area and is better paid than other positions.
All in all, local economies influence popular job titles, so we weren’t shocked to see that Alaska has the highest concentration of Science & Research. The analysis demonstrates its presence in Virginia, since the state has the most Senior Intelligence Analysts.
You may have noticed that the most searched profession in some states does not correspond to the most in-demand industry. As already mentioned, the states differ in their economic level, and a huge amount of searches for one or another profession may be caused by a sharp surge of need. For example, the Engineering industry is the most widespread in the state of Ohio, but the sudden demand for Sales Managers was caused by the annual growth of e-commerce due to its proximity to the rest of the country, and key population centers. A similar situation with a mismatch between profession and industry is observed in other states, such as New York, Oklahoma and others, but the reasons are different in each state.
Why do many states share the same color?
IT is one of the top industries in the USA. As mentioned earlier, California, Washington, New York, Colorado, Nevada and Delaware—just to name a few states—are leading technology hubs, and it’s obvious to see the same color as the industry dominates in those areas.
The same is valid for the East Coast, where tech is strongly correlated with the financial industry.
Why do some states have the same industry as a neighboring state?
Geography plays a huge role in the economy. People also relocate to neighboring states when taxes are lower—such as the example of California (an expensive state) and Nevada or Arizona (cheaper states located next to California). The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this, allowing people to work remotely.
Why do industries such as management distort statistics?
This is about management as an industry in a broad sense, the same can be said about some others. Managers can be found in tech companies, as well as in medical institutions or in engineering or marketing.
Methodology & The Origins of Our Data
At SignalHire, we receive tens of thousands of visitors per week, most of them search our database to find reliable contact information, and that is the core of our research. Please note that SignalHire statistics may differ from data from other sources because we have search data only for our audience—mostly recruiters, sales, and marketers.
Determining The Most In-Demand Industry By State
- We gathered information on the 50 states’ individual search volumes for each post;
- We classified all vacancies into 33 industry groups;
- We summarized them to collect information on the most sought positions and their industry;
- We determined the industry’s share of each state in terms of other sectors.
