What each state is unusually good at employing

Figures from the May 2025 BLS release

A location quotient compares how concentrated an occupation is locally against the national average. At state level it stops being a job-hunting tool and becomes something more interesting: a description of what a state's economy actually is, in numbers rather than adjectives.

A quotient of 5 means the occupation is five times as dense there as nationally. Values that high do not happen by accident — they mark an industry that the state is built around.

Texas

Occupation	LQ	Median	Employed
Wellhead Pumpers	6.3×	$75,860	10,250
Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas	6.06×	$56,100	5,810
Roustabouts, Oil and Gas	6×	$45,950	24,430
Petroleum Engineers	5.6×	$164,860	9,140
Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas	5.25×	$77,840	5,980

Nevada

Occupation	LQ	Median	Employed
First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers	21.54×	$66,680	5,590
Gambling Dealers	20.78×	$25,690	17,390

Michigan

Occupation	LQ	Median	Employed
Tool and Die Makers	5.84×	$65,590	9,420
Engine and Other Machine Assemblers	5.22×	$60,950	5,030

Iowa

Occupation	LQ	Median	Employed
Food Processing Workers, All Other	8×	$41,740	5,210

What to take from this

High concentration means a deep local market: more employers, more openings, easier lateral moves if a job does not work out. It does not reliably mean high pay. Competition that makes a market dense also gives employers more candidates to choose from.

The useful pairing is concentration and wage percentile together. A state where your occupation is both concentrated and well paid is where your experience is worth the most — and those are rarer than either alone.