Unemployment rates are now lower than they were a year ago in 222 of the nation’s 389 metropolitan areas, including the D.C. region.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the D.C. metro’s unemployment rate fell to 2.5% in June — down from 2.6% in May and 3.3% in June of last year. It is the D.C. metro’s lowest unemployment reading since before the pandemic.
The D.C. metro is one of 11 major metropolitan areas that the Bureau of Labor Statistics considers large enough to also break down into separately-identifiable employment centers. By that measure, one part of the D.C. region boasts the lowest unemployment rate in the nation: Specifically, the Silver Spring/Frederick/Rockville employment center had a June unemployment rate of 1.5%.
The Baltimore metropolitan area, which includes Columbia and Towson, and the California/Lexington Park metro area in Maryland, tied Manchester, New Hampshire; Portsmouth, Maine; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the lowest metro area unemployment rate, at 1.7% in June. A year earlier, the Baltimore metro area’s unemployment rate was 3.7%.
Metropolitan statistical area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.
Nationwide, eight metro areas had an unemployment rate of less than 2% in June, and six had unemployment rates of at least 8%. Nationally, the unemployment rate in June was 3.8%.
Among metro areas with a population of at least 1 million, Las Vegas had the highest June unemployment rate, at 6%
The D.C. metropolitan area gained 21,474 nonfarm payroll jobs in June, and ended the month with 81,454 more recorded jobs than a year earlier.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics posts monthly MSA unemployment rates and changes in payrolls online.
