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Local Area Unemployment Statistics
Bureau of Labor Statistics > Local Area Unemployment Statistics > Methods > Geographic Concepts

Local Area Unemployment Statistics Geographic Concepts

Notice

With the release of January 2025 data in March 2025, the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) estimates for federal statistical areas were updated to reflect the delineations based on the 2020 Census, as published in OMB Bulletin No. 23-01. For the six New England states, New England City and Town Areas (NECTAs) were discontinued, and LAUS began publishing the areas and divisions made up of counties or county equivalents. The 2025 Labor Market Area Directory provides a comprehensive list of the 2020 Census-based metropolitan, micropolitan, and small labor market areas and their geographic compositions.

See LAUS Geography and Data Changes in 2025 for more information.

The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program provides estimates for the following geographic areas:

  1. census regions and divisions;
  2. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico;
  3. federal statistical areas—metropolitan areas, metropolitan divisions, micropolitan areas, and combined areas;
  4. small labor market areas;
  5. counties and county equivalents;
  6. cities of 25,000 population or more;
  7. cities and towns in New England regardless of population; and
  8. parts of cities listed in (6) above which cross county boundaries.

Standard geographic area definitions based on existing political divisions are used by the LAUS program to determine the specific areas for which estimates are generated. These same definitions are used by other federal and state agencies, enabling comparison and tabulation of data across programs. Standardized definitions also increase the availability of input data for the LAUS program from other statistical or administrative programs.

Local geographic area designations vary across the United States. For example, parishes in Louisiana, boroughs in Alaska, and independent cities in Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia are considered equivalent to counties.

Federal Statistical Areas

Standard delineations of areas for federal statistical purposes are established by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Updates to the standards for delineating areas occur each decade following the census. For the standards used by OMB to revise federal statistical areas following the 2020 Census, see the Federal Register notice dated July 16, 2021. The updated federal statistical areas based on the application of these standards to population data from the 2020 Census and commutation data from the American Community Survey were issued on July 21, 2023, through OMB Bulletin No. 23-01, Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the Delineations of These Areas.

More information on the OMB updates is available on our Federal Statistical Area Delineations page.

Small Labor Market Areas

Labor market areas (LMAs) are an exhaustive level of substate geography published by the LAUS program. The metropolitan and micropolitan areas delineated by OMB are "major" LMAs for LAUS purposes. The balance of the U.S. is grouped into "small" LMAs, consisting of one or more counties or county equivalents. The LAUS program redefines small LMAs after each decennial census. The current small LMAs are based on commutation data from the American Community Survey 5-year dataset for 2016-20, the same source of the commutation data used by OMB for its 2020-based metropolitan and micropolitan area delineations.

Broadly, an LMA is an economically integrated geographic area within which individuals can reside and find employment within a reasonable distance or can readily change employment without changing their place of residence. In addition, LMAs are non-overlapping and geographically exhaustive. Since these areas are based on the degree of economic integration as measured by commuting flows without regard to state boundaries, interstate LMAs exist.

The following criteria were used to designate small LMAs following the 2020 Census:

  1. Worker flows were examined, and counties combined into one small LMA if either or both of the following conditions were met:
    • At least 25 percent of the employed residents of one county commuted to work in another county
    • At least 25 percent of the employment (persons working) in one county were accounted for by workers commuting from another county.
  2. Small LMAs, as is the case with metropolitan and micropolitan areas, are required to be contiguous. First, counties were combined based on the commutation criteria. Then, potential multi-county small LMAs were checked for contiguity. Noncontiguous portions of potential small LMAs were considered separately. If the noncontiguous area contained more than one county, it was reevaluated using (1) above. If the noncontiguous area consisted of a single county, it was designated as a separate small LMA.
  3. Subsequent to the verification of contiguity described in (2) above, commuting flows between adjacent small LMAs were evaluated. Those areas for which the measures and thresholds specified in (1) above were met merged to form one small LMA. This procedure was limited to one iteration, as was the case for metropolitan and micropolitan area delineation under the 2020-based OMB standards.

Naming Conventions: single-county small LMA names include the full county name, followed by the state abbreviation, such as "Hill County, TX." Multi-county small LMA names consist of not more than three county names, in descending order of population, followed by the state abbreviation and the term "LMA," as in "Rockbridge-Lexington-Buena Vista, VA LMA."

The 2025 Labor Market Area Directory provides a comprehensive list of the 2020 Census-based metropolitan, micropolitan, and small labor market areas and their geographic compositions.

Other Defined Areas

In addition to LAUS areas based on standard geographic classifications, several nonstandard areas are defined. Where LMAs cross state lines, estimates for each intrastate part of the interstate LMA are created as a necessity of the LAUS estimation procedure. Similarly, cities that are located in more than one county must have estimates created for the city parts in each county.

 

Last Modified Date: March 17, 2025