Mapped: America’s Top Employment Sector by State (1990 vs. 2025)

Key Takeaways

• Manufacturing was the largest employment sector in 35 states in 1990.
• By 2025, health care ranked first in 41 of 50 states.
• Hawaii and Nevada are the only states where hospitality ranked first in both years.

Over the past 35 years, the industries employing the most Americans have changed dramatically, with health care replacing manufacturing across much of the country.

This visualization shows the largest employment sector in each U.S. state in 1990 and 2025, using private-sector employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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