Jobs

5 American Cities With the Highest Unemployment

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: March 12, 2016 9:20 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 12:02 pm

The unemployment rate in the United States was 5.4% last year and 4.8% in December. Five cities had unemployment rates much higher than that in December, each well above 11%.

Of the five cities, three are in the central valley of California, which has been blighted by the worst drought in decades and its large agriculture industry decimated. These are Merced at 11.9% in December, Visalia at 12.2% and El Centro at 19.6%. Many other cities in the region are high on the jobless rate list as well.

The other two cities are Yuma, Ariz., at 18.0%, and Ocean City, N.J., at 12.3%. Ocean City was in the path of Hurricane Sandy and parts of it were ruined. Much of its revenue base came from tourists.

24/7 Wall St.’s study of Cities With the Highest (and Lowest) Unemployment Rates analyzed the five cities. Here are their rankings in reverse order:

5. Merced, Calif.

> December 2015 unemployment rate: 11.9%
> Unemployment rate, December 2014: 12.8%
> Unemployment rate, December 2005: 10.0%
> Median household income: $44,084
> Poverty rate: 25.2%
> Pct. of adults with a bachelor’s degree: 13.9%

Merced has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country as well as a struggling housing market. Metro home prices dropped nearly 40% from pre-recession levels, one of the worst declines in the country.

4. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.

> December 2015 unemployment rate: 12.2%
> Unemployment rate, December 2014: 13.0%
> Unemployment rate, December 2005: 9.5%
> Median household income: $42,611
> Poverty rate: 28.6%
> Pct. of adults with a bachelor’s degree: 12.3%

Visalia’s unemployment rate of 12.2% has improved measurably each year since 2010, when the jobless rate peaked at 18.3%. Still, the job market remains weaker compared to December 2005, when less than 10% of the area’s workforce was unemployed.

3. Ocean City, N.J.

> December 2015 unemployment rate: 12.3%
> Unemployment rate, December 2014: 14.6%
> Unemployment rate, December 2005: 9.2%
> Median household income: $56,899
> Poverty rate: 13.5%
> Pct. of adults with a bachelor’s degree: 26.3%

The only East Coast city to make the list, Ocean City’s unemployment rate of 12.3% is higher than nearly every other city in the country.

2. Yuma, Ariz.

> December 2015 unemployment rate: 18.0%
> Unemployment rate, December 2014: 20.1%
> Unemployment rate, December 2005: 12.1%
> Median household income: $40,008
> Poverty rate: 22.4%
> Pct. of adults with a bachelor’s degree: 13.5%

Roughly 18% of Yuma’s workforce is unemployed. Though the area’s unemployment rate is one of the worst in the country, it is improving. Unemployment has declined every year since 2013, when the city’s unemployment rate hit 23.5%.

1. El Centro, Calif.

> December 2015 unemployment rate: 19.6%
> Unemployment rate, December 2014: 22.6%
> Unemployment rate, December 2005: 13.8%
> Median household income: $39,290
> Poverty rate: 23.7%
> Pct. of adults with a bachelor’s degree: 14.8%

Close to one in five members of El Centro’s workforce was unemployed in December, the highest unemployment rate of any metro area in the United States. The area’s economy is highly dependent on its agricultural sector, which has suffered immensely due to California’s five consecutive years of severe drought conditions.

Methodology: To identify the best and worst job markets in the United States, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with the highest and lowest unemployment rates as of December 2015 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Only the 381 MSAs reviewed by both the BLS and the U.S. Census were considered. Labor force changes also came from the BLS. Median household incomes, poverty rates, educational attainment rates, the percentage of households receiving SNAP benefits (food stamps) and the proportions of households earning less than $10,000 and more than $200,000 annually all came from the Census Bureau’s 2015 American Community Survey (ACS), the latest period available. Workforce composition also came from the ACS. Quarterly median home prices since 2005 came from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.