The unemployment rate in the D.C. metro region in May was 3.3%, after having fallen to a pandemic low of 3.0% in April.
A year earlier, the D.C. region’s unemployment rate was 5.1%.
Nationwide, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports unemployment rates were lower than a year ago in 385 of the 389 metropolitan areas. A total of 150 metro areas had an unemployment rate of less than 3%. The national unemployment rate in May was 3.4%.
Unemployment rates for metropolitan areas are not seasonally adjusted.
The lowest unemployment rates in the nation last month were in Mankato and Rochester, both in Minnesota, at 1.3% each. The highest was in Yuma, Arizona, at 14.4%.
Among metro areas with a population of 1 million or more, Minneapolis had the lowest unemployment rate, at 1.6%. Cleveland had the highest, at 5.5%.
BLS posts monthly metropolitan unemployment rates, and changes to civilian labor forces online.