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Top 10 U.S. States by Manufacturing Employment

In which states are the highest percentage of employees employed in the manufacturing sector?
For the year 2022, according to the American Community Survey
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 20, 2023
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First submittedSeptember 26, 2019
Times taken25,417
Average score70.0%
Rating4.51
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%
State
18.5
Indiana
18.4
Wisconsin
18.2
Michigan
14.9
Ohio
14.5
Iowa
%
State
14.5
Kentucky
14.0
Alabama
13.9
Mississippi
13.6
Arkansas
13.4
Minnesota
+14
Level ∞
Sep 26, 2019
Five lowest: Hawaii, New Mexico, Wyoming, Maryland, Alaska
+3
Level ∞
Sep 19, 2023
Among cities measured by the Census Bureau, the highest is Racine, Wisconsin at 25.1%.

Detroit is only 17%.

+11
Level 69
Sep 26, 2019
All of them red states in 2016
+3
Level 86
Dec 5, 2021
Except Minnesota, except yeah, close enough.
+2
Level 79
Dec 14, 2021
^and Michigan and Wisconsin (but close enough)
+2
Level 64
Sep 29, 2019
For a similar quiz: Top 10 Poorest U.S. States by Median Income
+1
Level 61
Dec 10, 2019
I bet "Top 10 States by Farming Employment" would be closer
+25
Level 84
Dec 3, 2021
Look down on poor people much? Just because they do more manufacturing they are automatically poor?

It's also not true. Most of these states are solidly in the middle of the pack for median income. MN is #13. WI is #23. Iowa #26. Not to mention the cost of living in these states is considerably lower than those with less manufacturing, so income isn't the only yardstick.

+1
Level 75
Oct 1, 2023
I didn't get that message from that comment. This list has a fair bit of rust belt and fair bit of sunbelt (historically relatively low wage rates + anti-union legislation). Those can be seen as two sides of the same coin: each undermining the power of organized labour in search of advantages in price competition.
+3
Level 82
Dec 8, 2019
I got the top 5; missed the bottom 5. What are the southern states manufacturing?
+5
Level 75
Dec 8, 2019
Right-to-work laws made it attractive to owners to move plants there in past years, although I'm not sure that's still the case with so many states now having those laws. There was a large workforce available in the South once farming became mechanized. Lower taxes and cost of living for workers help, too. There are lots of textile and clothing manufacturers and car plants, and wood pulp plants. The Japanese built plants in some states to produce electronics, and there's a big energy production sector, too.
+3
Level 84
Dec 3, 2021
There are quite a few automobile assembly plants in the south, mostly German and Japanese makes. I remember seeing quite a few appliance assembly places too. None of these numbers though are overwhelming (13-14%) so it would be easy to miss unless you lived there.
+1
Level 80
Dec 3, 2021
After reading a few labour historians like Jefferson Cowie and Steven High, I thought most industry in the US moved south and to Mexico and beyond in the post 1960s/70s period for cheap wages, low taxes, and anti-union laws as Ander217 implicitly points out. But what surprised me as a non-Murican is that some rust belt states still have mfgering - what mfgering still happens there? From afar places like Detroit have the image of a de-industrialised ghost town as in The Wire. And why does Iowa have some mfgering? Is that mostly the meat industry (translation: 'meatpacking' in American) and other agriculturally based industries?
+6
Level 86
Dec 4, 2021
"places like Detroit have the image of a de-industrialised ghost town as in The Wire"

The Wire is set in Baltimore.

+3
Level 44
Dec 13, 2021
Just look at the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. those are your major modes of transportation across the country. Floating a boat is much cheaper and faster than driving 20 trucks.
+1
Level 67
Dec 14, 2021
For a long time I got literally nothing and then I got all of them except Wisconsin
+2
Level ∞
Sep 19, 2023
I assumed most people would immediately zero in on Michigan, Ohio, and other Rust Belt states.
+2
Level 87
Jan 21, 2022
Surprised that Iowa (on the list) is more "manufacturized" than Illinois (not on the list).
+1
Level 71
Oct 1, 2023
Pennsylvania often feels like a manufacturing state, but it's only #18. There are a lot of parts of PA that are very Rust Belt-y, so I was a bit surprised at this, but I suppose the "Rust Belt" areas of Western PA are sparsely populated. The one major "Rust Belt" city in PA, Pittsburgh, has been a success story relative to cities like Detroit, as they've transitioned to embracing more white collar work like the tech and healthcare industries.