While unemployment remains more than 20% in some of America’s metro areas where the recession still lingers, cities within states that never were damaged deeply by the recession continue to have unemployment rates well below the national average.

Unemployment across the sparsely populated Northern Plains is particularly low, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on metro areas for April. The rate in Fargo, N.D., is 2.8%. In Lincoln, Neb., it is 2.9%, in Des Moines, Iowa, it is 3.9%, in Billings, Mont., 3.3% and in Cheyenne, Wyo., it is 3.7%. In all these places, the rate in April was down both month-over-month and year-over-year.

Several cities in Texas also have unemployment below 4%. Midland was at 3.2% in April and Odessa at 3.9%. Abilene comes in at 3.7%, Lubbock at 3.5% and Austin at 3.8%. Here too, the April rates were lower than a year ago and in the previous month. The oil industry buoyed some of these regions during the lean years of the recession.

Other places scattered around the country with low unemployment include Burlington, Vt., at 2.8%, Ithaca, N.Y., at 3.5%, Lafayette, La., at 3.3%, Oklahoma City, Okla., at 3.8% and Salt Lake City, Utah, at 3.1%.

The BLS summarized the results in April this way:

Unemployment rates were lower in April than a year earlier in 357 of the 372 metropolitan areas, higher in 12 areas, and unchanged in 3 areas, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Fourteen areas had jobless rates of at least 10.0 percent and 118 areas had rates of less than 5.0 percent. Nonfarm payroll employment increased over the year in 302 metropolitan areas, decreased in 63 areas, and was unchanged in 7 areas. The national unemployment rate in April was 5.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted, down from 7.1 percent a year earlier.

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