FACT BRIEFHas Nevada had the highest unemployment rate of any state for more than a year?
Yes.
Nevada recorded the highest unemployment rate of any state for more than three years.
For every month since January 2022, Nevada has had the highest unemployment rate among the states. That streak was broken recently when Nevada recorded the second-highest unemployment rate at 5.5% in May; California’s rate was 5.8% that month.
In June 2025, Nevada tied with California for the highest unemployment rate at 5.4%.
From June 2024 to June 2025, which was the last month of available data, the unemployment rate in Nevada rose, peaking at 5.8% in November, but it fell to 5.4% in June.
That’s still higher than national unemployment rates, which ranged between 4.0% and 4.2% during the same time period.
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Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Historic Unemployment Rates (1976 - Present)
- Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation (DETR) Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS)
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Nevada lawmakers will be in session until June, and the fate of the bills they are debating will hinge in large part on the quality of the facts they’re working with.
Do free school lunches increase food waste? Do red flag laws reduce suicide rates? Does universal pre-K boost the economy?
We want to bring independent, rigorous fact checks to inform the public and policymakers on these crucial questions. We’re doing it through briefs that clearly answer a question with a yes or no in 150 words or less.
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