In December 2023, the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area in Maryland had the lowest jobless rate of 2.0% among the 51 largest metro areas in the US. Conversely, the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise area in Nevada had the highest unemployment rate among large metro areas at 5.3%. Among metropolitan areas of all sizes, the Burlington-South Burlington area in Vermont had the lowest unemployment rate at 1.6%, followed by the Fargo, North Dakota-Minnesota, and Manhattan, Kansas metro areas, both at 1.7%. On the other hand, El Centro, California, had the highest jobless rate among metropolitan areas of all sizes at 18.3%.
In December, Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Florida, had the lowest division unemployment rate at 1.6%, while Tacoma-Lakewood, Washington, had the highest division unemployment rate at 5.5%. The national unemployment rate in December was 3.5%, not seasonally adjusted, up from 3.3% a year earlier. Unemployment rates in December were higher than a year earlier in 230 of the 389 metropolitan areas, lower in 128 areas, and unchanged in 31 areas. Nine areas had jobless rates of less than 2.0%, while 10 areas had rates of at least 8.0%.