Unemployment Insurance Tax Index
| State | 2004 Unemployment Insurance Tax Index | 2003 Unemployment Insurance Tax Index | Change from 2003 to 2004 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | Rank | Score | Rank | Score | Rank | |
| Florida | 6.53 | 1 | 6.57 | 2 | -0.04 | 1 |
| Mississippi | 6.51 | 2 | 6.39 | 3 | 0.12 | 1 |
| Oklahoma | 6.39 | 3 | 6.74 | 1 | -0.35 | -2 |
| Vermont | 6.24 | 4 | 6.09 | 6 | 0.15 | 2 |
| Indiana | 6.07 | 5 | 6.16 | 5 | -0.09 | 0 |
| Alabama | 6.04 | 6 | 6.04 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| North Carolina | 6.02 | 7 | 5.99 | 9 | 0.03 | 2 |
| Arizona | 6.01 | 8 | 6.21 | 4 | -0.2 | -4 |
| Missouri | 6 | 9 | 5.55 | 16 | 0.44 | 7 |
| Delaware | 5.88 | 10 | 5.71 | 12 | 0.17 | 2 |
| Ohio | 5.87 | 11 | 5.96 | 10 | -0.09 | -1 |
| Pennsylvania | 5.83 | 12 | 4.04 | 43 | 1.79 | 31 |
| Texas | 5.81 | 13 | 5.85 | 11 | -0.04 | -2 |
| Maryland | 5.75 | 14 | 5.37 | 21 | 0.37 | 7 |
| New Mexico | 5.74 | 15 | 5.69 | 13 | 0.04 | -2 |
| Nebraska | 5.65 | 16 | 5.62 | 15 | 0.03 | -1 |
| Kansas | 5.62 | 17 | 5.55 | 16 | 0.07 | -1 |
| Wyoming | 5.58 | 18 | 5.44 | 20 | 0.14 | 2 |
| Utah | 5.42 | 19 | 5.45 | 19 | -0.03 | 0 |
| Hawaii | 5.41 | 20 | 5.3 | 24 | 0.11 | 4 |
| Louisiana | 5.39 | 21 | 6 | 8 | -0.61 | -13 |
| California | 5.37 | 22 | 5.66 | 14 | -0.29 | -8 |
| Montana | 5.21 | 23 | 5.14 | 26 | 0.07 | 3 |
| Connecticut | 5.17 | 24 | 5.03 | 27 | 0.14 | 3 |
| Colorado | 5.16 | 25 | 5.32 | 23 | -0.16 | -2 |
| New Jersey | 5.09 | 26 | 4.96 | 28 | 0.12 | 2 |
| Oregon | 4.99 | 27 | 5.18 | 25 | -0.18 | -2 |
| Iowa | 4.98 | 28 | 4.77 | 31 | 0.2 | 3 |
| Virginia | 4.93 | 29 | 4.93 | 29 | 0 | 0 |
| South Dakota | 4.74 | 30 | 4.48 | 35 | 0.26 | 5 |
| Wisconsin | 4.72 | 31 | 4.54 | 33 | 0.17 | 2 |
| Minnesota | 4.67 | 32 | 4.61 | 32 | 0.06 | 0 |
| Georgia | 4.56 | 33 | 4.47 | 36 | 0.09 | 3 |
| Tennessee | 4.53 | 34 | 4.37 | 37 | 0.17 | 3 |
| West Virginia | 4.49 | 35 | 4.49 | 34 | 0 | -1 |
| Washington | 4.44 | 36 | 5.37 | 21 | -0.93 | -15 |
| North Dakoota | 4.42 | 37 | 4.24 | 40 | 0.19 | 3 |
| Alaska | 4.3 | 38 | 4.25 | 38 | 0.06 | 0 |
| Maine | 4.28 | 39 | 4.11 | 42 | 0.17 | 3 |
| Nevada | 4.28 | 39 | 5.49 | 18 | -1.21 | -21 |
| Illinois | 4.18 | 41 | 4.25 | 38 | -0.08 | -3 |
| Michigan | 4.18 | 41 | 4.15 | 41 | 0.03 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 4.08 | 43 | 3.98 | 45 | 0.11 | 2 |
| Arkansas | 4.06 | 44 | 4.89 | 30 | -0.83 | -14 |
| South Carolina | 4.06 | 44 | 4.04 | 43 | 0.02 | -1 |
| Idaho | 3.83 | 46 | 3.66 | 47 | 0.17 | 1 |
| Kentucky | 3.45 | 47 | 3.34 | 48 | 0.11 | 1 |
| Massachusetts | 3.07 | 48 | 3.83 | 46 | -0.76 | -2 |
| Rhode Island | 2.66 | 49 | 2.26 | 50 | 0.4 | 1 |
| New York | 2.34 | 50 | 2.45 | 49 | -0.11 | -1 |
| U.S. | 5 | - | 5 | - | - | - |
| The Tax Foundation's Unemployment Insurance Tax Index, part of its overall State Business Tax Climate Index, is based on UI tax rates and complexity of rate structure. Lower number indicates more costly and complex UI system; states with identical scores rank equally. | ||||||
| Source: Tax Foundation, www.taxfoundation.org. | ||||||