What Is The Skill Specialty In Each State?

States, like people, have skills that they’re better at than anyone else. This week, we take a look at the competitive advantage of the workforce of each state. For a skill to be considered the specialty of each state, the skill must be more overrepresented for that state than for any other state.

We think this is important because skill specialties are not random and inconsequential. When a state builds up a specialty, it attracts businesses that require that talent, builds supply chains around those businesses, and continues to attract more of the same talent. This phenomenon can lead to skill clusters that persist for many years, and continue to shape the character of a state.

Below is the top skill in each state:

Our favorites:

• Most intuitive: California -> Start-Ups, West Virginia -> Coal, Michigan -> Automotive.
• Most insightful: Georgia -> Leadership, Florida -> Sales, Pennsylvania -> Healthcare.
• Most amusing: Colorado -> Wellness, Rhode Island -> Sailing, Wisconsin -> Windows 7.

If you have any ideas of other metrics to track or would like to hear more, please feel free to reach out.