Unemployment by US State Screensaver
The Unemployment by US State screensaver draws the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for all 50 states and DC as a classic tile-grid US map, colored from the lowest rate (green) to the highest (red). The data is real BLS data via FRED, gathered by the site's pipeline. It's free, needs an internet connection, and ESC exits.
How the Unemployment by US State screensaver works
The background pipeline pulls each state's latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from FRED's republication of BLS data into content/stateunemployment.json.
Every state plus DC gets a fixed square in the standard 11×8 tile-grid map layout — equal-size tiles arranged to echo US geography.
Tile color runs on a green-to-red scale between the current lowest and highest state rates; the legend along the bottom shows the scale.
The header shows the reference month and the national spread — the lowest and highest states right now.
A worked example
In June 2026 South Dakota's 2.0% renders as a deep green tile while DC's 6.0% glows red, with California's 5.2% close behind — one glance shows the coasts running hotter than the plains. In Multi-view it pairs well with the European unemployment board.
Settings & tips
- Show rates on tiles — off, tiles show just the state codes for a cleaner, more abstract map.
- Rates are seasonally adjusted and periodically revised by BLS; the month in the header is the latest published.
- The color scale is relative to the current spread, so contrast stays strong even when all states are close.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this real unemployment data?
- Yes — the latest seasonally adjusted state unemployment rates published by BLS, fetched via FRED by the site's pipeline. Values are shown unedited.
- Do I need an API key?
- No. The feed is gathered key-less by the background pipeline; the saver just reads a local JSON file.
- Does it work offline?
- It needs a connection to read the feed; once loaded, the map keeps displaying the last data it fetched.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
- Why a tile map instead of a real map?
- Equal-size tiles give every state the same visual weight — small Northeastern states stay readable, and the color does the talking. It's a standard layout for state-level data.