Which Job Is Most Unique to Your State?

Today's map is a special one. We teamed up with Economic Modeling Specialists Intl., a CareerBuilder company, to determine the "most unique" job in each state using a measurement called location quotient (LQ).
Measuring the “Most Unique” Jobs
Location quotient measures job concentration. For this analysis, LQ compares the percentage share of a state’s workforce in a given occupation to the percentage share of the nationwide workforce in that occupation. A location quotient of 1.0 means that percent employment for the state matches the nation. Jobs in retail, health care, and local government are typically the most common jobs in each state or metropolitan area, because every local economy needs a significant amount of these workers. These occupations tend to have an LQ near 1.0 in most places.
On the other hand, a high LQ is very useful for identifying key regional occupations or industries. High location quotients indicate that the occupation or industry makes up an important part of the region's economic base, often generating exports and wealth for the local economy. For example, one can effectively say that petroleum engineers are 6 times as concentrated in Texas as they are anywhere else in the United States on average.
As the data in the map and listed below indicates, an occupation need not have a large amount of jobs to earn a high LQ. For instance, there were 3.1 million jobs in Indiana as of 2013, but only 2,686 are boilermakers – making up just .09 percent of the statewide workforce. However, about one out of every 7 boilermaker jobs in the country are located in Indiana.
The following table represents the information found in the map:
State |
Occupation |
LQ |
Jobs 2013 |
Med. Hourly Earnings |
|
Alabama |
Tire Builders |
7.75 |
1,900 |
$24.55 |
|
Alaska |
Fishers & Related Fishing Workers |
33.56 |
2,901 |
$16.85 |
|
Arizona |
Semiconductor Processors |
4.19 |
1,640 |
$15.32 |
|
Arkansas |
Food Processing Workers |
6.78 |
2,303 |
$10.59 |
|
California |
Actors |
3.19 |
33,328 |
$29.23 |
|
Colorado |
Atmospheric & Space Scientists |
7.76 |
1,510 |
$49.34 |
|
Connecticut |
Actuaries |
4.16 |
1,141 |
$51.22 |
|
D.C. |
Political Scientists |
86.61 |
3,197 |
$55.64 |
|
Delaware |
Chemists |
11.65 |
3,050 |
$41.45 |
|
Florida |
Motorboat Operators |
5.92 |
1,315 |
$14.17 |
|
Georgia |
Textile Winding, |
10.52 |
8,607 |
$13.03 |
|
Hawaii |
Tour Guides & Escorts |
8.55 |
1,687 |
$12.82 |
|
Idaho |
Forest & Conservation |
14.2 |
2,273 |
$15.06 |
|
Illinois |
Correspondence Clerks |
3.93 |
1,727 |
$19.88 |
|
Indiana |
Boilermakers |
7.03 |
2,686 |
$31.66 |
|
Iowa |
Soil & Plant Scientists |
8.94 |
1,574 |
$30.05 |
|
Kansas |
Umpires, Referees, Other |
5.42 |
1,216 |
$11.16 |
|
Kentucky |
Roof Bolters, Mining |
14.14 |
1,184 |
$25.65 |
|
Louisiana |
Captains, Mates, & |
17.2 |
8,857 |
$34.88 |
|
Maine |
Fishers & Related Fishing Workers |
27.31 |
4,070 |
$17.52 |
|
Maryland |
Subway & Streetcar |
10.41 |
1,884 |
$25.43 |
|
Massachusetts |
Psychiatric Technicians |
4.86 |
8,202 |
$17.52 |
|
Michigan |
Model Makers, Metal & |
6.23 |
1,095 |
$24.72 |
|
Minnesota |
Slaughterers & Meat Packers |
4.82 |
7,619 |
$12.80 |
|
Mississippi |
Coil Winders, Tapers, |
11.18 |
1,340 |
$18.87 |
|
Missouri |
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, & Drying Machine |
5.58 |
2,303 |
$12.37 |
|
Montana |
Forest & Conservation |
19.41 |
2,200 |
$15.05 |
|
Nebraska |
Meat, Poultry, & Fish Cutters & Trimmers |
9.92 |
11,453 |
$13.58 |
|
Nevada |
Gaming Supervisors |
30.91 |
7,414 |
$25.40 |
|
New Hampshire |
Metal Workers & Plastic Workers, All Other |
10.05 |
1,020 |
$14.40 |
|
New Jersey |
Biochemists & |
4.71 |
3,628 |
$50.38 |
|
New Mexico |
Wellhead Pumpers |
13.75 |
1,358 |
$22.50 |
|
New York |
Fashion Designers |
5.18 |
7,164 |
$32.27 |
|
North Carolina |
Textile Winding, Twisting, & Drawing Out Machine Setters, |
7.63 |
6,394 |
$11.12 |
|
North Dakota |
Derrick Operators, Oil |
28.21 |
2,137 |
$26.65 |
|
Ohio |
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & |
3.53 |
4,778 |
$17.21 |
|
Oklahoma |
Wellhead Pumpers |
8.66 |
1,671 |
$20.51 |
|
Oregon |
Logging Workers, all other |
21.24 |
1,400 |
$16.57 |
|
Pennsylvania |
Survey Researchers |
3.54 |
2,776 |
$13.09 |
|
Rhode Island |
Education, Training, & Library Workers |
3.04 |
1,062 |
$20.42 |
|
South Carolina |
Textile Knitting and |
10.99 |
3,220 |
$13.70 |
|
South Dakota |
Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers |
9.42 |
14,827 |
$12.78 |
|
Tennessee |
Conveyor Operators & |
4.25 |
3,486 |
$13.73 |
|
Texas |
Petroleum Engineers |
6.39 |
21,457 |
$66.80 |
|
Utah |
Forest & Conservation |
4.4 |
1,362 |
$13.46 |
|
Vermont |
Highway Maintenance Workers |
3.99 |
1,364 |
$16.88 |
|
Virginia |
Legal Support Workers, |
5.75 |
9,039 |
$43.50 |
|
Washington |
Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, & Systems Assemblers |
14.21 |
13,535 |
$23.09 |
|
West Virginia |
Roof Bolters, Mining |
66.29 |
2,129 |
$26.84 |
|
Wisconsin |
Foundry Mold & Coremakers |
5.47 |
1,351 |
$15.72 |
|
Wyoming |
Rotary Drill Operators, |
28.0 |
1,566 |
$27.05 |
|
The Afternoon Map is a semi-regular feature in which we post maps and infographics. Thanks to the good people at CareerBuilder and Economic Modeling Specialists Intl. for all the data that went into this one, and to Mike Rogalski for making it look pretty.