The D.C. metro area’s unemployment rate fell to a pandemic low in February, though it remains nearly double what it was one year earlier.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the unemployment rate in the D.C. area was 5.7% in February, down from 6% in January. A year earlier, the D.C. metro had an unemployment rate of just 2.8%.
Baltimore’s unemployment rate in February was 5.8%, down from 6.1% in January, but up from 3.4% in February 2020.
Unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.
As of February, the Labor Department counted 189,742 Washington metro residents as unemployed, down from 198,648 in January.
Among cities with a population of 1 million or more, Los Angeles and New York had the highest metro area unemployment rates at 9.9% and 9.8% respectively. Birmingham, Alabama, and Salt Lake City had the lowest, at 3.5% and 3.6% respectively.
Among all cities, El Centro, California, a small agricultural town on the U.S.-Mexico boarder, retained the highest unemployment rate at 15.9% in February. Logan, Utah, had the lowest, at just 2.6%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics posts monthly unemployment rates, not seasonally adjusted, and change in employment by metro area online.
