Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN, has lowest unemployment rate among largest metro areas

Of the 51 metropolitan areas with a 2010 Census population of 1 million or more, Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, Tennessee, and San Francisco–Oakland-Hayward, California, had the lowest unemployment rates in February 2018, 2.7 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, New York, had the highest jobless rate among large areas, 6.4 percent.

Forty-five large areas had over-the-year unemployment rate decreases, four had increases, and two had no change. The largest rate decreases occurred in Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama (−1.5 percentage points), and Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio (−1.4 points). No large area had an unemployment rate increase of more than 0.3 percentage point.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are not seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. Areas in the six New England states are Metropolitan New England City and Town Areas (NECTAs), while areas in other states are county-based. To learn more, see "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment — February 2018" (HTML) (PDF). Also see Charts related to the latest "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment" news release.