![[OC] Unemployment Rate by Metro Area](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2mdn6krj7naf1-1536x1043.png "[OC] Unemployment Rate by Metro Area")
The national unemployment rate is 4.0%. By most metrics 4-6% is considered "healthy".
"Metropolitan Areas" defined by the US Census Bureau. Map by me, created with excel and mapchart, data from BLS here:
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/metro.pdf
Some observations…
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Alabama is finally #1 in a good way!
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Every west coast city has higher than average unemployment except for the Bay area
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The Southeast seems to have the lowest unemployment as a region
Posted by TA-MajestyPalm
9 Comments
Graphic by me, created with excel and mapchart.
Metro areas are defined by the US Census Bureau, unemployment rate is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics report released July 2.
Data source: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/metro.pdf
Baltimore, having the lowest unemployment of the big Northeastern cities, is a little surprising.
I like this graphic!
I think it would be interesting to see it with metro areas replaced by circles with size proportional to the populations – that would take a bit of adjustment, though, because the Northeast would get pretty crowded.
I am in Boston and can confirm the higher rates right now. I am unemployed after a layoffs and know many others who got the axe from other big companies here
How on earth is Laurens SC a metro area?
Alabama being in the top of something for something good was unexpected
Los Angeles has really gotten hit hard by the downturn in the film industry. The inland parts of the state have always been a mess though.
I don’t think most/least employed are correct labels. It would be good to compare participation rate, and gdp to get that picture.
The SE has a low labor participation rate
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/labor-force-participation-rate-by-state
I like the way the colors pop on this map.
Just so everyone know, the US unemployment statistics generally only count the people who are currently collecting EDD unemployment benefits. That is usually only a subset of the “unemployed” people out there. So it can be a very mislead stat.
Immigrants, people ineligible for benefits, long term unemployed, homeless, people on disability, stay-at-home parents, people who have never had a job, etc etc wouldn’t necessarily show up in these stats.