The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 4.7% last May, the lowest level in more than eight years and down from 5.5% the year before. The U.S. economy has been steadily recovering from the Great Recession, when the national unemployment rate hit a 10.0% peak in October 2009. The recovery, however, has been far from uniform. In 51 counties, the unemployment rate remains greater than 10.0%.
To identify the counties with the highest unemployment rates, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The county with the highest unemployment rate is Kusilvak, Alaska — previously Wade Hampton Census Area — where 22.3% of the workforce is out of a job.
Many of the most oil-dependent economies have been the slowest to recover in recent years. Oil prices have fallen worldwide, and counties that depend on oil revenues had relatively low economic activity as a result. Three of the five counties with the highest unemployment rates are in Alaska, where more than one-third of all jobs are related to the oil and gas industry.
Click here to see the 51 counties with the highest unemployment.
Counties with an educated workforce are more likely to have lower unemployment. Jobs that require higher educational attainment tend to have greater security and longer tenures. The current unemployment rate for adults with at least a bachelor’s degree is 2.5%, 5.0 percentage points lower than the 7.5% unemployment rate among high school dropouts. The difference is even greater in tough economic times. In October 2009, 15.2% of the workforce without a high school diploma was unemployed compared to 4.7% of the workforce with a bachelor’s degree or more.
In 43 of the 51 counties with the highest unemployment rates, less than 15% of adults have a bachelor’s degree, less than half the corresponding national educational attainment rate of 29.3%. Similarly, in all but five of these counties, residents are less likely to complete high school than adults nationwide.
Unemployed workers are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as Americans nationwide. While the national poverty rate is 15.6%, among the unemployed the poverty rate is 32.3%. This is especially the case in the counties with the highest unemployment rates. Jefferson, Mississippi, for example, reported an unemployment rate of 15.3% — far higher than the 4.7% national jobless rate — and an extraordinarily large 47.9% poverty rate, the highest in the country.
Places with high unemployment rates have, in addition to higher poverty rates, lower incomes overall. In a handful of the counties with the 51 highest employment rates, the typical household makes less than $24,000 annually, or less than half the $53,482 national median household income.
To identify the counties with the highest unemployment rates, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 51 counties where more than 10% of laborers are unemployed using employment data recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment rates are for May and were not seasonally adjusted. Poverty rates, educational attainment rates, and median household incomes came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey.
These are the counties with the highest unemployment rates.
51. Clay, Kentucky
> May unemployment rate: 10.1%
> Total population: 21,446
> Poverty rate: 35.7%
> Median household income: $22,626
50. Southeast Fairbanks, Alaska
> May unemployment rate: 10.1%
> Total population: 7,044
> Poverty rate: 13.6%
> Median household income: $65,481
49. Wilkinson, Mississippi
> May unemployment rate: 10.1%
> Total population: 9,481
> Poverty rate: 28.4%
> Median household income: $32,044
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48. Quitman, Mississippi
> May unemployment rate: 10.1%
> Total population: 7,902
> Poverty rate: 38.6%
> Median household income: $24,212
47. Jim Wells, Texas
> May unemployment rate: 10.2%
> Total population: 41,348
> Poverty rate: 20.5%
> Median household income: $42,463
46. Dillingham, Alaska
> May unemployment rate: 10.2%
> Total population: 4,956
> Poverty rate: 18.1%
> Median household income: $54,846
45. Calhoun, West Virginia
> May unemployment rate: 10.2%
> Total population: 7,583
> Poverty rate: 22.9%
> Median household income: $31,017
44. Morehouse, Louisiana
> May unemployment rate: 10.2%
> Total population: 27,319
> Poverty rate: 27.3%
> Median household income: $28,304
43. Pike, Kentucky
> May unemployment rate: 10.5%
> Total population: 64,380
> Poverty rate: 24.1%
> Median household income: $32,571
42. Knott, Kentucky
> May unemployment rate: 10.5%
> Total population: 16,139
> Poverty rate: 26.5%
> Median household income: $31,624
41. Clarke, Alabama
> May unemployment rate: 10.6%
> Total population: 25,331
> Poverty rate: 27.0%
> Median household income: $30,951
40. Hoonah-Angoon, Alaska
> May unemployment rate: 10.6%
> Total population: 2,126
> Poverty rate: 15.0%
> Median household income: $50,268
39. Floyd, Kentucky
> May unemployment rate: 10.7%
> Total population: 39,087
> Poverty rate: 29.5%
> Median household income: $30,190
38. Lowndes, Alabama
> May unemployment rate: 10.7%
> Total population: 10,918
> Poverty rate: 29.3%
> Median household income: $25,678
37. Logan, West Virginia
> May unemployment rate: 10.7%
> Total population: 36,169
> Poverty rate: 19.6%
> Median household income: $37,312
36. Duchesne, Utah
> May unemployment rate: 10.8%
> Total population: 19,378
> Poverty rate: 10.1%
> Median household income: $60,700
35. Maverick, Texas
> May unemployment rate: 10.8%
> Total population: 55,821
> Poverty rate: 29.9%
> Median household income: $32,536
34. Monroe, Ohio
> May unemployment rate: 10.8%
> Total population: 14,590
> Poverty rate: 18.8%
> Median household income: $41,394
33. Humphreys, Mississippi
> May unemployment rate: 10.8%
> Total population: 9,106
> Poverty rate: 40.5%
> Median household income: $24,387
32. Duval, Texas
> May unemployment rate: 10.9%
> Total population: 11,644
> Poverty rate: 23.7%
> Median household income: $32,479
31. Elliott, Kentucky
> May unemployment rate: 10.9%
> Total population: 7,781
> Poverty rate: 29.6%
> Median household income: $28,363
30. Uintah, Utah
> May unemployment rate: 11.0%
> Total population: 34,576
> Poverty rate: 11.7%
> Median household income: $62,363
29. Morris, Texas
> May unemployment rate: 11.0%
> Total population: 12,805
> Poverty rate: 17.6%
> Median household income: $39,387
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28. Apache, Arizona
> May unemployment rate: 11.0%
> Total population: 72,142
> Poverty rate: 35.9%
> Median household income: $32,396
27. Letcher, Kentucky
> May unemployment rate: 11.1%
> Total population: 23,965
> Poverty rate: 24.5%
> Median household income: $31,630
26. Harlan, Kentucky
> May unemployment rate: 11.2%
> Total population: 28,744
> Poverty rate: 32.1%
> Median household income: $25,186
25. Brooks, Texas
> May unemployment rate: 11.4%
> Total population: 7,200
> Poverty rate: 36.0%
> Median household income: $22,176
24. Prince of Wales-Hyder, Alaska
> May unemployment rate: 11.4%
> Total population: 6,356
> Poverty rate: 15.6%
> Median household income: $46,387
23. East Carroll, Louisiana
> May unemployment rate: 11.5%
> Total population: 7,602
> Poverty rate: 46.6%
> Median household income: $24,947
22. Leslie, Kentucky
> May unemployment rate: 11.6%
> Total population: 11,128
> Poverty rate: 23.9%
> Median household income: $29,156
21. Claiborne, Mississippi
> May unemployment rate: 11.9%
> Total population: 9,396
> Poverty rate: 36.4%
> Median household income: $23,917
20. West Carroll, Louisiana
> May unemployment rate: 12.2%
> Total population: 11,522
> Poverty rate: 26.7%
> Median household income: $31,843
19. Starr, Texas
> May unemployment rate: 12.4%
> Total population: 62,040
> Poverty rate: 38.9%
> Median household income: $25,906
18. Willacy, Texas
> May unemployment rate: 12.4%
> Total population: 22,056
> Poverty rate: 38.0%
> Median household income: $27,627
17. Mingo, West Virginia
> May unemployment rate: 12.5%
> Total population: 26,229
> Poverty rate: 23.0%
> Median household income: $34,495
16. McDowell, West Virginia
> May unemployment rate: 12.6%
> Total population: 21,281
> Poverty rate: 35.2%
> Median household income: $23,607
15. Lake and Peninsula, Alaska
> May unemployment rate: 12.7%
> Total population: 1,490
> Poverty rate: 18.0%
> Median household income: $47,143
14. Colusa, California
> May unemployment rate: 12.7%
> Total population: 21,424
> Poverty rate: 14.5%
> Median household income: $50,503
13. Zavala, Texas
> May unemployment rate: 12.9%
> Total population: 12,013
> Poverty rate: 32.3%
> Median household income: $27,253
12. Issaquena, Mississippi
> May unemployment rate: 12.9%
> Total population: 1,279
> Poverty rate: 31.6%
> Median household income: $29,583
11. Nome, Alaska
> May unemployment rate: 13.3%
> Total population: 9,792
> Poverty rate: 27.6%
> Median household income: $47,579
10. Luna, New Mexico
> May unemployment rate: 13.4%
> Total population: 24,947
> Poverty rate: 30.2%
> Median household income: $28,489
9. Wilcox, Alabama
> May unemployment rate: 13.5%
> Total population: 11,367
> Poverty rate: 40.6%
> Median household income: $23,406
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8. Bethel, Alaska
> May unemployment rate: 14.8%
> Total population: 17,576
> Poverty rate: 23.7%
> Median household income: $51,930
7. Jefferson, Mississippi
> May unemployment rate: 15.3%
> Total population: 7,634
> Poverty rate: 47.9%
> Median household income: $23,480
6. Magoffin, Kentucky
> May unemployment rate: 15.6%
> Total population: 13,076
> Poverty rate: 26.8%
> Median household income: $27,947
5. Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska
> May unemployment rate: 16.4%
> Total population: 5,651
> Poverty rate: 24.1%
> Median household income: $37,796
4. Northwest Arctic, Alaska
> May unemployment rate: 17.5%
> Total population: 7,672
> Poverty rate: 22.8%
> Median household income: $63,971
3. Imperial, California
> May unemployment rate: 19.4%
> Total population: 177,026
> Poverty rate: 23.4%
> Median household income: $41,772
2. Yuma, Arizona
> May unemployment rate: 20.9%
> Total population: 201,453
> Poverty rate: 20.7%
> Median household income: $41,380
1. Kusilvak, Alaska
> May unemployment rate: 22.3%
> Total population: 7,778
> Poverty rate: 33.0%
> Median household income: $40,943
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