Unemployment Rate in the United States increased to 4.30 percent in August from 4.20 percent in July of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

In 2023, Nevada had the highest annual unemployment rate in the United States at 5.1 percent. North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate that year, at 1.9 percent. The monthly unemployment rate by state can be found here.

Employment Rate in the United States remained unchanged at 59.60 percent in August. This dataset provides - United States Employment Rate- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

This table contains data on the percent of the population in the labor force who are unemployed (unemployment rate), for California, its regions, counties, county divisions, cities/towns, and census tracts. Data is from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS). The table is part of a series of indicators in the Healthy Communities Data and Indicators Project of the Office of Health Equity. Unemployment is associated with higher rates of self-reported poor health, long-term illnesses, higher incidence of risky health behaviors (alcoholism, smoking), and increased mortality. Various explanations have been proposed for the link between poor health and unemployment; for example, economic deprivation that results in reduced access to essential goods and services. Another explanation is that unemployment causes the loss of latent functions (social contact, social status, time structure and personal identity) which can result in stigma, isolation and loss of self-worth. More information about the data table and a data dictionary can be found in the About/Attachments section.

This is the monthly data for U.S. employment and unemployment by state including some numbers for Puerto Rico. This dataset was accessed on April 7th 2008. The data for February 2008 are preliminary. The data presented are seasonally adjusted although the unadjusted numbers are also available. Unavailable data are represented as -1. The dataset is taken from Tables 3 and 5 from the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. It includes the civilian labor force, the unemployed in numbers and percentages, and employment by industry. Data from table 3 "refer to place of residence. Data for Puerto Rico are derived from a monthly household survey similar to the Current Population Survey. Area definitions are based on Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 08-01, dated November 20, 2007, and are available at http://www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm. Estimates for the latest month are subject to revision the following month". Data from table 5 "are counts of jobs by place of work. Estimates are currently projected from 2007 benchmark levels. Estimates subsequent to the current benchmarks are provisional and will be revised when new information becomes available. Data reflect the conversion to the 2007 version of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) as the basis for the assignment and tabulation of economic data by industry, replacing NAICS 2002. For more details, see http://www.bls.gov/sae/saenaics07.htm.

The unemployment rate for people ages 16 to 24 in the United States in 202024 23 was 10 percent. However, this rate was much lower for people aged 45 and over, at 2.9 percent. U.S. unemployment The unemployment rate in the United States varies based on several factors, such as race, gender, and level of education. Black and African-American individuals had the highest unemployment rate in 2021 out of any ethnicity, and people who had less than a high school diploma had the highest unemployment rate by education level. Alaska is consistently the state with the highest unemployment rate, although the El Centro, California metropolitan area was the area with the highest unemployment rate in the country in 2019. Additionally, in August 2022, farming, fishing, and forestry occupations had the highest unemployment rate in the United States Unemployment rate The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is the agency that researches and calculates the unemployment rate in the United States. Unemployment rises during recessions, which causes the cost of social welfare programs to increase. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says unemployed people are those who are jobless, have looked for employment within the last four weeks, and are free to work.

This dataset includes unemployment rates for all counties in the lower 48 for the year 2004. I calculated Rates of Change from 2003 and they are also included. The data was extracted from the Bureau of Labor Statistic Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS)program. (pre-update)

The Arlington Profile combines countywide data sources and provides a comprehensive outlook of the most current data on population, housing, employment, development, transportation, and community services. These datasets are used to obtain an understanding of community, plan future services/needs, guide policy decisions, and secure grant funding. A PDF Version of the Arlington Profile can be accessed on the Arlington County website.

Long Term Unemployment Rate in the United States increased to 1.13 percent in August from 1.07 percent in July of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Long Term Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

United States Unemployment Rate: sa: Iowa data was reported at 2.400 % in Oct 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 2.500 % for Sep 2018. United States Unemployment Rate: sa: Iowa data is updated monthly, averaging 4.200 % from Jan 1976 (Median) to Oct 2018, with 514 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9.100 % in Jan 1983 and a record low of 2.400 % in Oct 2018. United States Unemployment Rate: sa: Iowa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.G058: Unemployment Rate: By State: Seasonally Adjusted.

United States Unemployment Rate: Iowa data was reported at 2.500 % in Jun 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.200 % for May 2018. United States Unemployment Rate: Iowa data is updated monthly, averaging 4.200 % from Jan 1976 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 510 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10.300 % in Jan 1983 and a record low of 2.000 % in Nov 1999. United States Unemployment Rate: Iowa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.G057: Unemployment Rate: By State.

Unemployment Rate: Washington data was reported at 4.500 % in Jun 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 4.400 % for May 2018. Unemployment Rate: Washington data is updated monthly, averaging 6.600 % from Jan 1976 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 510 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.200 % in Jan 1983 and a record low of 4.100 % in Oct 1997. Unemployment Rate: Washington data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.G057: Unemployment Rate: By State.

This layer contains the latest 14 months of unemployment statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The data is offered at the nationwide, state, and county geography levels. Puerto Rico is included. These are not seasonally adjusted values. The layer is updated monthly with the newest unemployment statistics available from BLS. There are attributes in the layer that specify which month is associated to each statistic. Most current month: July 2025 (preliminary values at the county level) The attributes included for each month are:Unemployment rate (%)Count of unemployed populationCount of employed population in the labor forceCount of people in the labor forceData obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data downloaded: September 19, 2025Local Area Unemployment Statistics table download: https://www.bls.gov/lau/#tablesLocal Area Unemployment FTP downloads:State and County NationData Notes:This layer is updated automatically when the BLS releases their most current monthly statistics. The layer always contains the most recent estimates. It is updated within days of the BLS"s county release schedule. BLS releases their county statistics roughly 2 months after-the-fact. The data is joined to 2023 TIGER boundaries from the U.S. Census Bureau.Monthly values are subject to revision over time.For national values, employed plus unemployed may not sum to total labor force due to rounding.As of the January 2022 estimates released on March 18th, 2022, BLS is reporting new data for the two new census areas in Alaska - Copper River and Chugach - and historical data for the previous census area - Valdez Cordova. As of the March 17th, 2025 release, BLS now reports data for 9 planning regions in Connecticut rather than the 8 previous counties. To better understand the different labor force statistics included in this map, see the diagram below from BLS:

United States Unemployment Rate: Maine data was reported at 3.200 % in Jun 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 3.000 % for May 2018. United States Unemployment Rate: Maine data is updated monthly, averaging 5.600 % from Jan 1976 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 510 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10.600 % in Feb 1977 and a record low of 2.600 % in Dec 2017. United States Unemployment Rate: Maine data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.G057: Unemployment Rate: By State.

Youth Unemployment Rate in the United States increased to 10.50 percent in August from 10 percent in July of 2025. This dataset provides - United States Youth Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Context

This is a dataset that I built by scraping the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. I was looking for county-level unemployment data and realized that there was a data source for this, but the data set itself hadn't existed yet, so I decided to write a scraper and build it out myself.

Content

This data represents the Local Area Unemployment Statistics from 1990-2016, broken down by state and month. The data itself is pulled from this mapping site:

https://data.bls.gov/map/MapToolServlet?survey=la&map=county&seasonal=u

Further, the ever-evolving and ever-improving codebase that pulled this data is available here:

https://github.com/jayrav13/bls_local_area_unemployment

Acknowledgements

Of course, a huge shoutout to bls.gov and their open and transparent data. I've certainly been inspired to dive into US-related data recently and having this data open further enables my curiosities.

Inspiration

I was excited about building this data set out because I was pretty sure something similar didn't exist - curious to see what folks can do with it once they run with it! A curious question I had was surrounding Unemployment vs 2016 Presidential Election outcome down to the county level. A comparison can probably lead to interesting questions and discoveries such as trends in local elections that led to their most recent election outcome, etc.

Next Steps

Version 1 of this is as a massive JSON blob, normalized by year / month / state. I intend to transform this into a CSV in the future as well.

Labor Force Participation Rate in the United States increased to 62.30 percent in August from 62.20 percent in July of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Labor Force Participation Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

United States Unemployment Rate: New York data was reported at 4.200 % in Jun 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 3.700 % for May 2018. United States Unemployment Rate: New York data is updated monthly, averaging 6.400 % from Jan 1976 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 510 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 11.200 % in Feb 1976 and a record low of 3.600 % in Apr 1988. United States Unemployment Rate: New York data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.G057: Unemployment Rate: By State.

Context

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. The BLS is a governmental statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor representatives. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Labor_Statistics

Content

Bureau of Labor Statistics including CPI (inflation), employment, unemployment, and wage data.

Update Frequency: Monthly

Querying BigQuery Tables

Fork this kernel to get started.

Acknowledgements

https://bigquery.cloud.google.com/dataset/bigquery-public-data:bls

https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/public-data/bureau-of-labor-statistics

Dataset Source: http://www.bls.gov/data/

This dataset is publicly available for anyone to use under the following terms provided by the Dataset Source - http://www.data.gov/privacy-policy#data_policy - and is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, express or implied, from Google. Google disclaims all liability for any damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of the dataset.

Banner Photo by Clark Young from Unsplash.

Inspiration

What is the average annual inflation across all US Cities? What was the monthly unemployment rate (U3) in 2016? What are the top 10 hourly-waged types of work in Pittsburgh, PA for 2016?

Unemployment Rate: sa: Mississippi data was reported at 4.700 % in Oct 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 4.800 % for Sep 2018. Unemployment Rate: sa: Mississippi data is updated monthly, averaging 6.900 % from Jan 1976 (Median) to Oct 2018, with 514 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12.800 % in Apr 1983 and a record low of 4.500 % in Mar 2018. Unemployment Rate: sa: Mississippi data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.G058: Unemployment Rate: By State: Seasonally Adjusted.