Get my free review

Data · County unemployment

Unemployment by county

How many people are out of work in each county and state, how that has moved over the last decade, and the latest month. We read the Bureau of Labor Statistics' own Local Area Unemployment Statistics files, keep every figure with its series and file, and check that the counties add up to the state.

Checked October 28, 2026 · CC BY 4.0 · Not legal advice

What is in this dataset?

The unemployment rate, number unemployed, employed and labor force for every county and state, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program: the annual average for each year 2015 to 2025 and the latest 13 months. Each county and state record carries the latest annual average, the change from the year before and since 2015, and the latest month (preliminary until BLS revises it). County figures are model-based estimates that BLS controls to its state totals; the build checks that county employment, unemployment and labor force add up to the state's. Retired Alaska census-area codes with no current estimate are left out, and Connecticut appears as BLS publishes it.

Use it to see how tight or slack the labor market is in the counties a firm serves, and where it is turning: rising unemployment is the backdrop to layoffs, wage disputes and unemployment-benefit appeals, and a county's rate against its state's shows where local conditions differ. Look up a state to get every county in it, compare up to ten states, or search by county name. These are survey-based model estimates, not a count of people, and the newest month is preliminary.

Records
3,273
Look up by
52
state or territory
Primary source
3,273

The letters are explained in what P, S, D and U mean.

Where does the data come from?

BLS LAUS flat files (la.data.64.County, la.data.2.AllStatesU) are read for series LAUCN<county>0000000<measure> and LAUST<state>0000000000<measure> (rate 03, unemployed 04, employed 05, labor force 06), not seasonally adjusted; annual averages are the M13 values, and county employment, unemployed and labor force are checked to add up to the state's.

Period covered
2015 to September 2026
Places
The whole US, states and counties
How often we refresh it
Every month
Records read
October 28, 2026

Official sources

The sources the records cite most

What does a record look like?

  • Illinois: unemployment rate 4.6% in 2025 (annual average), 305,101 unemployed of a labor force of 6,587,613; down 0.4 points from 2024; September 2026: 4.2% (preliminary). Annual averages 2015-2025 are in the record. The 2025 annual average covers 11 months: BLS did not collect October 2025 data because of the federal government shutdown.

    Status P · checked October 28, 2026 · source: BLS LAUS flat file la.data.2.AllStatesU

  • Texas: unemployment rate 4.2% in 2025 (annual average), 665,263 unemployed of a labor force of 15,883,632; up 0.1 points from 2024; September 2026: 4.3% (preliminary). Annual averages 2015-2025 are in the record. The 2025 annual average covers 11 months: BLS did not collect October 2025 data because of the federal government shutdown.

    Status P · checked October 28, 2026 · source: BLS LAUS flat file la.data.2.AllStatesU

  • California: unemployment rate 5.5% in 2025 (annual average), 1,085,280 unemployed of a labor force of 19,823,761; up 0.2 points from 2024; September 2026: 5.1% (preliminary). Annual averages 2015-2025 are in the record. The 2025 annual average covers 11 months: BLS did not collect October 2025 data because of the federal government shutdown.

    Status P · checked October 28, 2026 · source: BLS LAUS flat file la.data.2.AllStatesU

  • Florida: unemployment rate 3.9% in 2025 (annual average), 436,616 unemployed of a labor force of 11,109,300; up 0.5 points from 2024; September 2026: 4.2% (preliminary). Annual averages 2015-2025 are in the record. The 2025 annual average covers 11 months: BLS did not collect October 2025 data because of the federal government shutdown.

    Status P · checked October 28, 2026 · source: BLS LAUS flat file la.data.2.AllStatesU

The full records add the dates, the quoted source text and every field in the CSV and JSON files below.

What each of the 19 main columns means
jurisdiction
Two-letter state or territory code
level
county or state
county
5-digit county FIPS code as BLS uses it (Connecticut by planning region); empty for states
period
The period of the headline figure
year
The latest complete annual-average year
value
Unemployment rate, percent, latest annual average
unemployment_rate
Unemployment rate, percent, latest annual average (not seasonally adjusted)
unemployed
People unemployed, annual average
employed
People employed, annual average
labor_force
Civilian labor force, annual average
rate_change_1y
Change in the rate from the year before, percentage points
rate_change_since_2015
Change in the rate since 2015, percentage points
latest_month
The latest month in the file (YYYY-MM)
latest_month_rate
Unemployment rate in that month, percent
latest_month_preliminary
true while BLS has not yet revised that month
latest_month_unemployed
People unemployed in that month
latest_month_labor_force
Labor force in that month
years
Annual averages by year: [rate, unemployed, employed, labor force, footnote] (order in yearFields)
monthsLast13
The last 13 months, same order

How do I use it in my own tools?

unemployment_lookup
For one two-letter state or territory code: the state's unemployment rate, unemployed, employed and labor force, and every county in it, with the annual averages since 2015 and the latest month.
unemployment_compare
Unemployment records for up to 10 states or territories (two-letter codes) side by side, state and county rows with annual averages and the latest month.
unemployment_search
Unemployment records whose text matches the words given, such as a county name ("Cook County") or a 5-digit county FIPS code.

How to cite this dataset

You can reuse, adapt and republish this data, including commercially, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0). The only condition is that you credit Probative and link to the source.

Version
1.0.0, released October 29, 2026
Every version
10.5281/zenodo.23753058 (always points to the newest)
License
CC BY 4.0

Download the data

Free, no email or login. The files are hosted on this site and Zenodo, a public research archive.

Suggested citation

Probative. (2026). County and state unemployment: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics, annual averages and latest month (Version 1.0.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23753061

Credit line for a chart, table or article

Source: Probative, County and state unemployment: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics, annual averages and latest month, version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23753061, licensed CC BY 4.0.

Add to a reference manager (Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote)

Not legal advice. These are statistical estimates of the labor market, kept for research and marketing planning. They say nothing about whether any worker has a legal claim; rights and deadlines are for your own counsel.

What changed recently?

  • 2026-10-29 · County and state unemployment rates, unemployed, employed and labor force: annual averages 2015-2025 and the last 13 months (through 2026-09), from BLS LAUS. (source)
  • 2026-10-28 · County and state unemployment rates, unemployed, employed and labor force: annual averages 2015-2025 and the last 13 months (through 2026-09), from BLS LAUS. (source)

The full log is in changes.json.

What are the limits?

  • County figures are model-based estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, built from a national survey, state data and local records. They carry sampling and modelling error that the files do not publish for counties, so small differences between counties should not be read as real.
  • The newest month is preliminary and BLS revises it, usually once a year with the annual benchmark. The headline figure is the latest annual average, which is final for that year.
  • The latest annual averages cover eleven months: BLS did not collect October data because of the federal government shutdown, and says so in the file (footnote G).
  • Figures are not seasonally adjusted, so a single month should be compared with the same month of another year, not with the month before.
  • There is no U.S. record: BLS publishes the national rate from a different survey than these files. Puerto Rico appears with its municipios; territories other than Puerto Rico are not in the files. Connecticut is shown as BLS publishes it, by planning region. Retired Alaska census-area codes with no current estimate are left out.
  • Unemployment counts people who looked for work; it does not count people who left the labor force, and it says nothing about layoffs, wages or whether any worker has a legal claim.
  • Records older than 45 days since their last check are marked stale in the files until we re-check them. Every confirmed error we fix is listed in the data corrections log.

Found a wrong value? Report an error with the record id and the source that shows the right value.

Running a firm? You don’t need the raw data: we handle your state’s ad rules for you. See where your firm stands first.

Published by Probative Growth, a marketing agency for law firms. See our services and pricing.

Free

Get your free review.

Send us your firm’s website. Probative Growth records a 90-second video of what clients see when they look you up, and emails it with a one-page summary within 2 business days. No logins, no call needed.

Not sure where to start? Answer 7 questions Ready to talk? Talk to us Or see what AI says about your firm

Your free review: It covers your Google listing, website, phone and ads, from public information.

Step 2 of 2. Where should we send the video for your site?

We use this to send your video and to reply to you.

We use what you send to reply and to send a few short follow-up emails (unsubscribe any time). To learn which of our ads work, we tell Google, Microsoft and Meta that a request came in, with the ad you clicked (if any) and a hashed copy of your email and phone (a code the platforms can still match to you), never your message. Never sold, never added to lists. Global Privacy Control or an email to us turns this off. By sending this form you agree to our privacy policy.

See every price