Unemployment in large U.S. metropolitan areas, July 2010

Among the 49 metropolitan areas with a Census 2000 population of 1 million or more, Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., registered the highest unemployment rates in July (not seasonally adjusted), 15.2 percent and 15.1 percent, respectively.

[Chart data]

The lowest jobless rates among the 49 large metropolitan areas were recorded in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. (6.3 percent), and in Oklahoma City, Okla., (6.4 percent). The next lowest rate (6.8 percent) was registered in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis.

Twenty-six of the large areas reported unemployment rate increases over the year, while 20 areas recorded rate decreases and 3 had no rate change. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., experienced the largest rate increase from July 2009 (+1.8 percentage points). Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis., posted the largest jobless rate decreases over the year (‑1.5 and ‑1.3 percentage points, respectively), followed by Birmingham-Hoover, Ala., and Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-S.C. (‑1.2 points each).

The national unemployment rate in July was 9.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted, the same as a year earlier.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are not seasonally adjusted. Metropolitan area unemployment rates for July 2010 are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment — July 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-1210.