8. South Dakota
> Job creation index: 19 (tied for 6th highest)
> Unemployment rate (Dec. 2011): 4.2% (3rd lowest)
> Change in unemployment (Dec. 2010 – Dec. 2011): -10.6%
> Change in home prices (2006 Q3 – 2011 Q3): 4.4% (2nd largest increase)

Throughout the recession, few state economies have been as healthy as that of South Dakota. Home prices in the state actually increased 4.4%, the second-highest incre
ase, after only North Dakota. Unemployment in the state has also been extremely low. Even when the national unemployment rate hit 10% for the first time in decades in October 2009, South Dakota’s was just 5%. As of December 2011, the unemployment rate was just 4.3%, the third-lowest in the country. Only 12.6% of workers surveyed said their employers were letting people go, compared to a national rate of 18.4%.

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7. West Virginia
> Job creation index: 19 (tied for 6th highest)
> Unemployment rate (Dec. 2011): 7.9% (25th highest)
> Change in unemployment (Dec. 2010 – Dec. 2011): -18.6%
> Change in home prices (2006 Q3 – 2011 Q3): 0.1% (9th largest increase)

Unlike most other states on this list, West Virginia does not have particularly low unemployment levels. The unemployment rate, however, has dramatically decreased recently. It dropped by 18.6% from the end of 2010 to the end of 2011 — the third-largest decline in the country. The state’s home prices also increased by 0.1% from the third quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2011, a period when housing prices in most states substantially fell.

6. Indiana
> Job creation index: 19
> Unemployment rate (Dec. 2011): 9.0% (13th highest)
> Change in unemployment (Dec. 2010 – Dec. 2011): -5.3% (9th smallest decrease)
> Change in home prices (2006 Q3 – 2011 Q3): -5.2% (37th largest decrease)

Between 2006 and 2011, home prices dropped 5.2% in Indiana, but it was the fifth-smallest decline in the U.S. Unlike most states on the list, though, the unemployment rate in the state was above the national average, reaching 9% as of December. Still, according to Hoosiers surveyed by Gallup, companies in Indiana are hiring again. Compared to 31.5% nationally who believe their company is hiring, 34% of those polled in Indiana believe so.

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5. Nebraska
> Job creation index: 20
> Unemployment rate (Dec. 2011): 4.1% (2nd lowest)
> Change in unemployment (Dec. 2010 – Dec. 2011): -4.7%
> Change in home prices (2006 Q3 – 2011 Q3): -2.2% (40th largest decrease)

Nebraska’s unemployment rate of 4.1% was the second-lowest in the country as of December. However, it has always been low. Nebraska’s unemployment rate was only 4.3% in December of 2010, and four years before that, in 2006, it was 2.9%. Certainly not unrelated, 49.6% of the state’s residents — one of the highest rates — are reporting their employers are neither hiring nor letting workers go. Also, 32.4% say their companies are hiring, while 12.9% say their companies are letting go. The state’s residents also are among the most optimistic with regards to the state of the national economy.