With the national unemployment rate at 5.8% in November, the U.S. job recovery continues to plug along in search of what economists once called the natural rate, which was believed to be around 4%. That number almost certainly will be adjusted in light of the events that followed the Great Recession.

Even as the unemployment rate inches down, there are several states where it is already below 4%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and more where the rate is below 4.5%. Here is a list of the 11 states with the lowest unemployment rates in November:

1. North Dakota: 2.7%, flat with November 2013; civilian labor force up 15,000 year-over-year to 417,800
2. Nebraska: 3.1%, from 3.7% a year ago; labor force up 1,500 to 1.022 million
3. South Dakota: 3.3%, from 3.6% a year ago; labor force up 3,900 to 452,700
4. Utah: 3.6%, from 4.0% a year ago; labor force up 4,100 to 1.437 million
5. Minnesota: 3.7%, from 4.8% last November; labor force up 18,200 to 2.99 million
6. Hawaii: 4.0%, from 4.7% in November 2013, labor force up 17,400 to 669,800
7. Colorado: 4.1%, from 6.3% a year ago; labor force up 57,100 to 2.807 million
8. Iowa: 4.3%, from 4.2% last November; labor force up 40,800 to 1.714 million
9. Kansas: 4.3%, from 5.0% a year ago; labor force up 18,000 to 1.496 million
10. Montana: 4.3%, from 5.4% last November; labor force up 6,900 to 519,900
11. Vermont: 4.3%, flat with a year ago; labor force up 1,800 to 351,800

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Of the states with unemployment rates below 4% the largest is Minnesota, with a population of around 5.4 million, followed by Utah, with 2.9 million people. All told, the five states with the lowest unemployment are home to about 10 million Americans, or about 3.1% of the country’s total.

Notes: BLS methodology and unemployment by state.

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