Figure A
Medicaid cuts hit hardest in local economies that can bear them the least: Unemployment rates and the share of the 19–64-year-old population covered by Medicaid across U.S. counties, 2019–2023
| Share of 19–64 population covered by Medicaid | Unemployment Rate |
|---|---|
| 3.1% | 3.0% |
| 5.0% | 3.1% |
| 6.2% | 3.0% |
| 7.0% | 2.8% |
| 7.5% | 3.1% |
| 7.9% | 3.0% |
| 8.4% | 3.2% |
| 8.9% | 3.5% |
| 9.3% | 3.2% |
| 9.7% | 3.5% |
| 10.2% | 3.5% |
| 10.5% | 3.3% |
| 10.9% | 3.6% |
| 11.3% | 3.3% |
| 11.7% | 3.6% |
| 12.0% | 3.3% |
| 12.4% | 3.5% |
| 12.8% | 3.5% |
| 13.2% | 3.5% |
| 13.5% | 3.8% |
| 13.9% | 3.6% |
| 14.3% | 3.8% |
| 14.7% | 3.9% |
| 15.0% | 3.7% |
| 15.5% | 3.9% |
| 15.9% | 3.7% |
| 16.2% | 4.1% |
| 16.6% | 3.7% |
| 17.0% | 3.8% |
| 17.4% | 4.0% |
| 17.9% | 4.3% |
| 18.3% | 4.2% |
| 18.8% | 4.2% |
| 19.3% | 4.3% |
| 19.8% | 4.1% |
| 20.3% | 4.2% |
| 20.8% | 4.3% |
| 21.5% | 4.3% |
| 22.1% | 4.6% |
| 22.8% | 4.5% |
| 23.4% | 4.4% |
| 24.0% | 4.7% |
| 24.8% | 4.8% |
| 25.8% | 4.8% |
| 26.9% | 4.9% |
| 28.4% | 5.1% |
| 30.1% | 5.4% |
| 32.3% | 5.3% |
| 36.0% | 5.5% |
| 44.3% | 6.6% |

Notes: County unemployment rates are the average unemployment rates from 2019–2023, using data from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The share of 19–64 year olds covered by Medicaid is taken from the 2023 5-year averages from American Community Survey (ACS) data, compiled by the Census Data at data.census.gov. The data consist of 3,142 counties, and the figure is a binned scatterplot with each bin consisting of 50 counties.
This chart appears in:
Previous chart: « Mexican manufacturing wages barely reach 10% of U.S. wages: Average hourly earnings for manufacturing jobs in U.S., Canada, and Mexico, selected years ($2024)