South Dakota posted the lowest jobless rates among all US states in July at 2.0%, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Vermont and North Dakota followed closely at 2.1% and 2.2%, respectively.

Conversely, the District of Columbia posted the highest unemployment rate at 5.5%, followed by Nevada at 5.4%.

The national unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points over the month to 4.3%.  

In total, 28 states had unemployment rates lower than the US figure of 4.3%, four states and the District of Columbia had higher rates and 18 states had rates that were not appreciably different from the national figure.

Two states posted year-over-year decreases in their jobless rates: Arizona, down 0.5 percentage point to 3.4%, and Mississippi, down 0.4 point to 2.7%.

Meanwhile, the largest year-over-year unemployment rate increase occurred in Rhode Island, up 1.8 percentage points to 4.5%.