QuadranacA North American Statistical Almanac

Home › Rankings

General merchandise stores share of retail jobs: U.S. states ranked

Measure: General merchandise stores share of retail jobs (%, derived). All 50 states and District of Columbia with data in Retail trade jobs and pay by state, ranked from highest to lowest. Reference period: 2023.

Licence
Public domain (U.S. federal government work).
Data last updated
2026-11-10
Download full table CSVSource: U.S. Census Bureau (County Business Patterns 2023 (API dataset 2023/cbp), NAICS 2017 codes 44-45, 441, 445, 452, 454 and 00 (all sectors)) (opens in a new tab)Source: U.S. Census Bureau (Population Estimates Program, July 1, 2023 resident population (denominator)) (opens in a new tab)

National value: 16.6 (United States).

Washington: 17.4Idaho: 17.5Montana: 13.7North Dakota: 17.1Minnesota: 19.3Michigan: 21.3Ohio: 18.2Pennsylvania: 15.2New York: 12.7Vermont: 7.3New Hampshire: 13.1Maine: 12.8Arizona: 17California: 14.4New Mexico: 20.1Texas: 16.8Louisiana: 20.2Mississippi: 23.8Alabama: 21.8Florida: 14.8Georgia: 18.1South Carolina: 17.6North Carolina: 16.9Virginia: 17.1District of Columbia: 10.3Maryland: 14.5Delaware: 12New Jersey: 13.1Connecticut: 12.5Rhode Island: 12.6Massachusetts: 11.2Oregon: 17.3Utah: 15.9Wyoming: 17.4Nevada: 14.3Colorado: 15.8South Dakota: 16.6Nebraska: 16.4Kansas: 18.4Oklahoma: 21.6Iowa: 16.5Missouri: 19.6Wisconsin: 17.5Illinois: 18.6Kentucky: 21Arkansas: 24.4Tennessee: 18West Virginia: 22.1Indiana: 20.6Alaska: 22.5Hawaii: 17.3

Small states, hard to see on the map:

  • Lowest: 7.3 to 13.7 %
  • Group 2: 13.7 to 16.6 %
  • Group 3: 16.6 to 17.5 %
  • Group 4: 17.5 to 20.1 %
  • Highest: 20.1 to 24.4 %
The map is a visual summary; every value is in the table below, which is the keyboard and screen-reader path. Groups are quintiles of the values shown (a derived grouping). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain), simplified. Alaska and Hawaii are shown as insets, not to scale.

Rank is derived by Quadranac: 1 = highest value; ties share a rank. The ranked value is itself derived; see the source table for the method. Values are as published in the source table.

Note: County Business Patterns counts employer establishments only; states' values for small subsectors may be withheld (blank) to avoid disclosing individual businesses.

1Arkansas24.4
2Mississippi23.8
3Alaska22.5
4West Virginia22.1
5Alabama21.8
6Oklahoma21.6
7Michigan21.3
8Kentucky21
9Indiana20.6
10Louisiana20.2
11New Mexico20.1
12Missouri19.6
13Minnesota19.3
14Illinois18.6
15Kansas18.4
16Ohio18.2
17Georgia18.1
18Tennessee18
19South Carolina17.6
20Idaho17.5
20Wisconsin17.5
22Washington17.4
22Wyoming17.4
24Hawaii17.3
24Oregon17.3
26North Dakota17.1
26Virginia17.1
28Arizona17
29North Carolina16.9
30Texas16.8
31South Dakota16.6
32Iowa16.5
33Nebraska16.4
34Utah15.9
35Colorado15.8
36Pennsylvania15.2
37Florida14.8
38Maryland14.5
39California14.4
40Nevada14.3
41Montana13.7
42New Hampshire13.1
42New Jersey13.1
44Maine12.8
45New York12.7
46Rhode Island12.6
47Connecticut12.5
48Delaware12
49Massachusetts11.2
50District of Columbia10.3
51Vermont7.3

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (API dataset 2023/cbp), NAICS 2017 codes 44-45, 441, 445, 452, 454 and 00 (all sectors)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, July 1, 2023 resident population (denominator). Reference period: 2023.

Cite this ranking

U.S. states ranked by general merchandise stores share of retail jobs (%, derived) (2023). Data: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, County Business Patterns 2023 (API dataset 2023/cbp), NAICS 2017 sectors 44-45 (retail trade) and subsectors 441, 445, 452, 454; rank derived by Quadranac. Data last updated 2026-11-10. https://quadranac.com/rankings/us-states-by-general-merchandise-stores-share-of-retail-jobs/

Download source table CSV All rankings