U.S. Metro Jobless Rates Rise in 174 Areas as March Unemployment Holds at 4.3%
Updated
Updated · The FINANCIAL · May 19
U.S. Metro Jobless Rates Rise in 174 Areas as March Unemployment Holds at 4.3%
2 articles · Updated · The FINANCIAL · May 19
174 of 387 U.S. metro areas posted higher unemployment in March than a year earlier, while 172 declined and 41 were unchanged, showing a broadly split labor-market picture.
4.3% was the national unemployment rate on a not-seasonally-adjusted basis, little changed from March 2025; 25 metro areas were below 3.0%, while 10 were at or above 8.0%.
2.0% in Rapid City, South Dakota, was the lowest metro rate, followed by Burlington-South Burlington and Urban Honolulu at 2.2%; El Centro, California, was highest at 16.9%, and Fresno led major metros at 8.9%.
Nonfarm payrolls were essentially flat in 371 metro areas, rising in just 8 and falling in 8; San Jose added 17,900 jobs, while Washington-Arlington-Alexandria lost 107,900.
Florida metros showed notable labor-market weakening, with Wildwood-The Villages posting the biggest unemployment increase at 2.2 percentage points and Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa among the largest rises in major metros.
With low unemployment but extreme living costs, are cities like Honolulu and San Jose becoming impossible for workers to live in?
As AI fuels California's economy, will it create more jobs than it eliminates across the nation's struggling job markets?
As federal cuts shrink DC's job market, can its 'Trusted Innovation' plan compete with established tech hubs like Silicon Valley?