New Hampshire posted the lowest jobless rate among all US states in July at 1.7%, the US Bureau of Statistics reported today. The next lowest rates were in Maryland and Vermont at 1.8% each.

The three states recorded their lowest jobless rates since 1976 along with Alabama, 2.1%; Louisiana, 3.4%; Massachusetts, 2.5%; Mississippi, 3.0%; Ohio, 3.3%; Pennsylvania, 3.5%; Tennessee, 3.1%; and Washington, 3.6%.

Nevada posted the highest unemployment rate in July at 5.3%.

In total, 21 states had unemployment rates lower than the US figure of 3.5%, three states and the District of Columbia had higher rates, and 26 states had rates that were not appreciably different from the national figure.

Maryland posted the largest year-over-year jobless rate decrease among all states in July, down 1.4 percentage points to 1.8%.

On the other hand, the District of Columbia and California had the largest year-over-year unemployment rate increases in July, up 0.9 and 0.8 percentage points to 5.0% and 4.6%, respectively.