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Among large metro areas, Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington had lowest jobless rate in November 2018

January 10, 2019

Of the 51 metropolitan areas with a 2010 Census population of 1 million or more, Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minnesota-Wisconsin, had the lowest unemployment rate in November 2018, 2.0 percent. In November 2017, the unemployment rate in the Minneapolis area was 2.5 percent. 

Unemployment rates in large metropolitan areas, November 2018, not seasonally adjusted
Metropolitan area Unemployment rate, November 2018 Unemployment rate, November 2017 Over-the-year change

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI

2.0% 2.5% -0.5 percentage point

Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH

2.4 2.8 -0.4

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

2.4 2.8 -0.4

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

2.5 2.9 -0.4

Oklahoma City, OK

2.6 3.5 -0.9

Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN

2.6 2.5 0.1

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL

2.7 3.5 -0.8

Kansas City, MO-KS

2.7 3.2 -0.5

Austin-Round Rock, TX

2.7 2.8 -0.1

Salt Lake City, UT

2.7 2.6 0.1

Jacksonville, FL

2.9 3.6 -0.7

Richmond, VA

2.9 3.6 -0.7

St. Louis, MO-IL

2.9 3.3 -0.4

Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI

2.9 3.1 -0.2

Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT

3.0 4.1 -1.1

Raleigh, NC

3.0 3.9 -0.9

Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC

3.0 3.8 -0.8

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

3.0 3.6 -0.6

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

3.0 3.5 -0.5

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL

3.1 4.0 -0.9

Birmingham-Hoover, AL

3.1 3.1 0.0

San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX

3.1 3.1 0.0

Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC

3.2 4.2 -1.0

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

3.2 4.1 -0.9

San Diego-Carlsbad, CA

3.2 3.5 -0.3

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

3.2 3.2 0.0

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

3.3 4.2 -0.9

Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO

3.3 2.8 0.5

Rochester, NY

3.4 4.9 -1.5

Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN

3.4 3.3 0.1

Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN

3.4 3.0 0.4

Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD

3.5 4.0 -0.5

Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, CA

3.5 3.9 -0.4

Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN

3.5 3.8 -0.3

Columbus, OH

3.5 3.7 -0.2

Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY

3.6 5.2 -1.6

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

3.6 4.4 -0.8

Providence-Warwick, RI-MA

3.6 4.1 -0.5

Pittsburgh, PA

3.7 4.4 -0.7

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

3.7 3.7 0.0

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI

3.8 4.6 -0.8

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

3.8 4.4 -0.6

Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI

3.8 3.9 -0.1

Memphis, TN-MS-AR

3.8 3.7 0.1

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

3.9 4.4 -0.5

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

3.9 4.3 -0.4

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

3.9 4.0 -0.1

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

4.2 4.0 0.2

New Orleans-Metairie, LA

4.2 4.0 0.2

Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV

4.4 4.9 -0.5

Cleveland-Elyria, OH

4.4 4.5 -0.1

Note: Data for the most recent month are preliminary.

Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio, and Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada, had the highest jobless rates among the large areas, each 4.4 percent.

Over-the-year unemployment rate decreases occurred in 39 of the large metropolitan areas. The largest rate decrease, −1.6 percentage points, occurred in Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, New York. The unemployment rate in the Buffalo area was 5.2 percent in November 2017, compared with 3.6 percent a year later. In Rochester, New York, the rate declined from 4.9 percent to 3.4 percent, a change of −1.5 points. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Connecticut, and Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, North Carolina-South Carolina were the only other large metropolitan areas with unemployment rate decreases of 1.0 percentage point or more over the November 2017 to November 2018 period.

Over-the-year unemployment rate increases occurred in 8 large metropolitan areas. The largest over-the-year increase, 0.5 percentage point, was in Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado, where the rate was 2.8 percent in November 2017 and 3.3 percent in November 2018.

Unemployment rates in Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama; San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas; Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas; and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Oregon-Washington were the same in November 2018 as they were in November 2017. Rates in these metropolitan areas ranged from 3.1 percent to 3.7 percent.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are not seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment — November 2018." Also of interest: Charts and maps on metropolitan area employment and unemployment.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Among large metro areas, Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington had lowest jobless rate in November 2018 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/among-large-metro-areas-minneapolis-st-paul-bloomington-had-lowest-jobless-rate-in-november-2018.htm (visited April 20, 2024).

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