New Study Reveals Where Americans Are Hunting for New Jobs the Most

A new study by PEO Metrics has ranked Georgia as the state where residents are searching for new jobs more than anywhere else in America.

“Looking for a new job does not always mean somebody is unemployed or desperate to leave their current role. People search because they want better pay, more flexibility, shorter commutes or simply want to know what opportunities are available to them,” said Chris DeCarolis, Senior PEO Advisor at PEO Metrics.

“But when one state consistently records much higher job-search activity than others, it does suggest that a significant share of the workforce is actively looking at what else is out there.”

So what exactly puts Georgia ahead of the other 49 states?

Breaking Down the Study

Experts analyzed Google search activity for around 3,200 job-related terms across all 50 states, including searches such as “jobs near me”, “Indeed”, “remote jobs”, “work from home” and occupation-specific vacancies.

Search activity was adjusted for population to allow states of different sizes to be compared fairly, before each state was given an overall job-search activity score.

Higher scores indicate greater online interest in finding new employment relative to population.

The research also looked at the types of jobs people were searching for, revealing a strong preference across many states for both local vacancies and remote or home-based work.

The Results

1. Georgia - Georgia tops the ranking with a score of 92.12. Residents make an average of 43,401 job-related searches per 100,000 people each month, with searches such as “jobs hiring near me” and “part-time jobs near me” among the most prominent.

   
   

2. Connecticut - Connecticut follows with a score of 88.05. Residents show particularly strong interest in remote opportunities, with “Indeed remote jobs” standing out among the state’s most popular employment-related searches.

   
   

3. North Carolina - North Carolina ranks third with a score of 68.63. Jobseekers are searching heavily for both local opportunities and home-based positions, including terms relating to Indeed and “online jobs from home”.

   
   

4. Mississippi - Mississippi takes fourth place with a score of 65.73. Residents similarly show strong interest in nearby vacancies as well as remote employment, suggesting workers are keeping several options open when looking for their next role.

   
   

5. South Carolina - South Carolina rounds out the top five with a score of 65.21. Popular searches include “places hiring near me” and “customer service jobs from home”, highlighting demand for both traditional local employment and flexible remote roles.

   
   

6. At the opposite end of the ranking, Alaska records the lowest job-search activity score at just 1.72, followed by Montana at 2.38 and South Dakota at 9.32.

“For companies trying to attract or retain workers, the message is fairly simple: pay attention to what candidates are actually searching for. Salary matters, but so do flexibility, location and the ability to fit work around everyday life.”

Rank	States	Searches for jobs (per 100K population)	Index score
1	Georgia	43,401	92.12
2	Connecticut	42,057	88.05
3	North Carolina	35,647	68.63
4	Mississippi	34,692	65.73
5	South Carolina	34,520	65.21
6	Delaware	34,267	64.45
7	Tennessee	33,437	61.93
8	Illinois	33,294	61.50
9	Florida	33,041	60.73
10	Ohio	33,015	60.65
11	Indiana	32,925	60.38
12	Texas	31,119	54.91
13	Maryland	30,949	54.39
14	Michigan	30,890	54.21
15	Alabama	30,612	53.37
16	Arizona	30,304	52.44
17	Louisiana	30,157	51.99
18	Virginia	30,152	51.98
19	Pennsylvania	29,044	48.62
20	Nevada	28,876	48.11
21	Kentucky	28,808	47.90
22	Missouri	28,456	46.84
23	Arkansas	27,597	44.23
24	New Jersey	27,378	43.57
25	Utah	27,262	43.22
26	California	27,179	42.97
27	Colorado	25,782	38.73
28	Minnesota	25,608	38.21
29	Wisconsin	24,974	36.29
30	Massachusetts	24,658	35.33
31	Rhode Island	24,371	34.46
32	Iowa	23,763	32.62
33	Oklahoma	23,528	31.90
34	Washington	23,425	31.59
35	Kansas	23,191	30.88
36	New Hampshire	22,845	29.83
37	West Virginia	22,470	28.70
38	Oregon	22,032	27.37
39	New York	21,764	26.56
40	Maine	20,705	23.35
41	Nebraska	20,136	21.63
42	Idaho	19,674	20.23
43	Vermont	19,479	19.63
44	New Mexico	19,173	18.71
45	North Dakota	19,135	18.59
46	Wyoming	17,977	15.08
47	Hawaii	16,500	10.61
48	South Dakota	16,077	9.32
49	Montana	13,787	2.38
50	Alaska	13,569	1.72