Person puts box of personal belongings on desk and hands boss resignation letter.

States where the most workers are quitting their jobs

Written by:
Data work by:
Paxtyn Merten
January 24, 2024
Updated on July 30, 2024
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States where the most workers are quitting their jobs

Low pay, minimal opportunities for growth, and disrespectful work environments are just a few of the top reasons employees quit their jobs, according to the Pew Research Center. Of course, there are myriad reasons workers might put in their notices, ranging from the mundane, such as moving to a new state, to the dramatic, like having blow-up arguments with a supervisor.

Quits are down from the recent span of historically high rates during the Great Resignation. The national quit rate in May was 2.2%, or about 3.5 million people, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Over the past 12 months, layoffs among major employers across the U.S. have tempered feelings of job security.

However, certain states continue to feel the burden of high turnover. To discover which ones, Stacker used BLS data to rank states and Washington D.C. by their preliminary May quit rates, using the number of quitters as a tiebreaker when needed. Quit rates are calculated by taking the number of quits during the month as a percentage of the total number of jobs in a state.

Keep reading to see where your state falls.

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#51. Massachusetts

- Quit rate: 1.6%
- Number of quits: 61,000

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#50. Washington DC

- Quit rate: 1.7%
- Number of quits: 13,000

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#49. New Jersey

- Quit rate: 1.8%
- Number of quits: 79,000

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#48. New York

- Quit rate: 1.8%
- Number of quits: 173,000

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#47. California

- Quit rate: 1.8%
- Number of quits: 333,000

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#46. Washington

- Quit rate: 1.9%
- Number of quits: 70,000

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#45. Michigan

- Quit rate: 1.9%
- Number of quits: 85,000

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#44. Pennsylvania

- Quit rate: 1.9%
- Number of quits: 120,000

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#43. Iowa

- Quit rate: 2%
- Number of quits: 33,000

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#42. Connecticut

- Quit rate: 2%
- Number of quits: 35,000

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#41. Wisconsin

- Quit rate: 2%
- Number of quits: 62,000

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#40. North Carolina

- Quit rate: 2%
- Number of quits: 99,000

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#39. Minnesota

- Quit rate: 2.1%
- Number of quits: 62,000

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#38. Ohio

- Quit rate: 2.1%
- Number of quits: 117,000

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#37. Illinois

- Quit rate: 2.1%
- Number of quits: 132,000

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#36. Hawai'i

- Quit rate: 2.2%
- Number of quits: 14,000

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#35. Nebraska

- Quit rate: 2.2%
- Number of quits: 23,000

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#34. Florida

- Quit rate: 2.2%
- Number of quits: 219,000

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#33. Texas

- Quit rate: 2.2%
- Number of quits: 309,000

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#32. Rhode Island

- Quit rate: 2.3%
- Number of quits: 12,000

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#31. New Mexico

- Quit rate: 2.3%
- Number of quits: 20,000

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#30. Maryland

- Quit rate: 2.3%
- Number of quits: 63,000

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#29. Indiana

- Quit rate: 2.3%
- Number of quits: 77,000

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#28. New Hampshire

- Quit rate: 2.4%
- Number of quits: 17,000

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#27. Nevada

- Quit rate: 2.4%
- Number of quits: 38,000

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#26. Oregon

- Quit rate: 2.4%
- Number of quits: 47,000

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#25. Colorado

- Quit rate: 2.4%
- Number of quits: 72,000

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#24. Vermont

- Quit rate: 2.5%
- Number of quits: 8,000

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#23. Delaware

- Quit rate: 2.5%
- Number of quits: 12,000

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#22. Alabama

- Quit rate: 2.5%
- Number of quits: 56,000

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#21. Missouri

- Quit rate: 2.5%
- Number of quits: 77,000

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#20. Arizona

- Quit rate: 2.5%
- Number of quits: 80,000

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#19. Georgia

- Quit rate: 2.5%
- Number of quits: 125,000

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#18. Maine

- Quit rate: 2.6%
- Number of quits: 17,000

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#17. Kansas

- Quit rate: 2.6%
- Number of quits: 38,000

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#16. Utah

- Quit rate: 2.6%
- Number of quits: 45,000

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#15. Oklahoma

- Quit rate: 2.6%
- Number of quits: 46,000

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#14. Virginia

- Quit rate: 2.6%
- Number of quits: 111,000

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#13. North Dakota

- Quit rate: 2.7%
- Number of quits: 12,000

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#12. Louisiana

- Quit rate: 2.7%
- Number of quits: 52,000

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#11. Kentucky

- Quit rate: 2.7%
- Number of quits: 55,000

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#10. South Dakota

- Quit rate: 2.8%
- Number of quits: 13,000

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#9. West Virginia

- Quit rate: 2.8%
- Number of quits: 20,000

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#8. Arkansas

- Quit rate: 2.8%
- Number of quits: 38,000

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#7. Tennessee

- Quit rate: 2.8%
- Number of quits: 93,000

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#6. South Carolina

- Quit rate: 2.9%
- Number of quits: 68,000

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#5. Wyoming

- Quit rate: 3.1%
- Number of quits: 9,000

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#4. Mississippi

- Quit rate: 3.2%
- Number of quits: 38,000

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#3. Idaho

- Quit rate: 3.4%
- Number of quits: 30,000

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#2. Alaska

- Quit rate: 3.6%
- Number of quits: 12,000

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#1. Montana

- Quit rate: 3.6%
- Number of quits: 19,000

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