DC metro unemployment rate falls to pandemic low

The D.C. metro area’s unemployment rate fell to a pandemic low of 3.5% in July, down from 3.7% in June and 5.4% a year earlier.

The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports unemployment rates were lower than a year earlier in 383 of the nation’s 389 metropolitan statistical areas. Ninety-one cities had unemployment rates of less than 3%.



Seven cities tied for the lowest July unemployment rate at just 1.7%:

  • Burlington, Vermont;
  • Fargo, North Dakota;
  • Logan, Utah;
  • Mankato, Minnesota;
  • Portsmouth, New Hampshire;
  • Rochester, Minnesota;
  • Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Yuma, Arizona had the highest unemployment rate in July at 18.4%.

Among cities with a population of 1 million or more, Minneapolis had the lowest unemployment rate at 2%, and Las Vegas had the highest, at 5.6%.

Metropolitan unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.

See monthly metropolitan unemployment rates and changes in nonfarm payrolls online.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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