Data Analysis

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach's unemployment rate fell to 3.2 percent in September 2026 from 3.6 percent a year earlier, while 14 of Florida's 22 metro areas posted higher rates, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

Six Florida metros were unchanged from September 2025 and two were lower. Miami was the only one below the national 4.0 percent; The Villages was highest at 7.6.

The unemployment rate in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach fell to 3.2 percent in September 2026 from 3.6 percent a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported October 28. Of Florida's 22 metropolitan areas, 14 had higher rates than in September 2025, six were unchanged and two were lower. Miami was the only Florida metro below the national rate of 4.0 percent. Wildwood-The Villages had the highest rate in the state at 7.6 percent. Nationally, rates were lower than a year earlier in 226 of 387 metro areas.

How did Florida metros change from September 2025?

The over-the-year picture improved from August. In the August release, 21 of 22 Florida metros had higher rates than a year earlier and none was lower, as covered in our August metro unemployment article. In September, 14 were higher, six unchanged and two lower.

The two that fell were Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, down 0.4 point to 3.2 percent, and Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, down 0.1 point to 5.2 percent. The six unchanged were Cape Coral-Fort Myers at 4.8, Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin at 4.1, Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach at 4.9, Homosassa Springs at 6.3, Lakeland-Winter Haven at 5.2 and Naples-Marco Island at 4.7. These counts are this desk's, taken from BLS Table 1.

Which Florida metros had the lowest and highest unemployment?

Ordered from lowest to highest for September 2026: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 3.2, Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin 4.1, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford 4.2, Panama City-Panama City Beach 4.3, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 4.3, Jacksonville 4.5, Tallahassee 4.5, Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 4.6, Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent 4.6, Naples-Marco Island 4.7, North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota 4.7, Cape Coral-Fort Myers 4.8, Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach 4.9, Gainesville 4.9, Port St. Lucie 4.9, Lakeland-Winter Haven 5.2, Sebastian-Vero Beach 5.2, Ocala 5.4, Punta Gorda 5.6, Homosassa Springs 6.3, Sebring 6.3 and Wildwood-The Villages 7.6.

Twenty-one of the 22 sat above the national 4.0 percent. The spread from Miami to The Villages was 4.4 points.

Where did unemployment rise the most?

Gainesville and Tallahassee each rose 0.3 point over the year, to 4.9 and 4.5 percent. Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent and Sebring each rose 0.2 point. The other ten increases were 0.1 point each: Jacksonville, North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Ocala, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Panama City, Port St. Lucie, Punta Gorda, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Wildwood-The Villages.

These are small moves on unadjusted metro series. A tenth of a point is within the range where rounding alone can decide whether a metro is counted as higher or unchanged. The release does not explain why the two state university metros posted the largest increases, and this article does not speculate.

How big was Miami's drop?

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach counted 105,520 unemployed residents in September 2026, against 118,046 in September 2025, out of a labor force of 3,302,668. That is about 12,500 fewer unemployed people over the year, by this desk's subtraction of the two published levels. The labor force was about 31,000 larger than a year earlier on the same table.

BLS also reported that the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan division, one of the three divisions inside the Miami metro, had the lowest unemployment rate of any metropolitan division in the country at 1.9 percent.

Why did every Florida metro fall from August?

All 22 Florida metros had lower rates in September than in August, by between 0.2 and 0.5 point. These metro rates are not seasonally adjusted, and unemployment typically shifts between late summer and early fall for seasonal reasons, so the month-to-month change should not be read as a trend. The over-the-year comparison above removes most of that seasonal pattern.

How does this compare with the statewide rate?

Florida's statewide unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, as covered in our Florida unemployment article. The statewide rate and these metro rates use different adjustment, so they should not be compared directly.

For housing, local job conditions are one input into demand. Market detail is on the Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Fort Myers and Sarasota market pages, and statewide trends are on the Florida housing tracker.

People also ask

What is the unemployment rate in Miami in September 2026?

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area had an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent in September 2026, not seasonally adjusted, down from 3.6 percent in September 2025.

Which Florida metro has the highest unemployment rate?

Wildwood-The Villages, at 7.6 percent in September 2026, followed by Homosassa Springs and Sebring at 6.3 percent each.

How many Florida metros saw unemployment rise in September 2026?

Fourteen of Florida's 22 metro areas had higher unemployment rates than a year earlier. Six were unchanged and two, Miami and Sebastian-Vero Beach, were lower.

What is the unemployment rate in Jacksonville and Tampa?

Jacksonville was 4.5 percent and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 4.3 percent in September 2026, each 0.1 point higher than a year earlier.

When is the next metro unemployment release?

BLS has scheduled the October 2026 Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for December 2, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Limitations

September 2026 figures are preliminary and will be revised. The rates are not seasonally adjusted. BLS Table 1 does not mark these metro rate changes as statistically significant or not, so small changes are described as small. Counts of metros higher, lower and unchanged, the Miami unemployed and labor force differences, and the ranking are this desk's arithmetic on the published table.

August 2026 figures in the table were revised from those used in our August article; this article uses the revised table only for September comparisons. No metro payroll figures are cited. No long-run history chart is included because FRED could not be retrieved from either of the desk's machines today. No figure is sourced to a wire service or secondary mirror.

Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment, September 2026, released October 28, 2026: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.nr0.htm

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table 1, Civilian labor force and unemployment by state and metropolitan area, not seasonally adjusted: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.t01.htm

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, release schedule: https://www.bls.gov/schedule/news_release/current_year.asp

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, State Employment and Unemployment, September 2026, via our Florida unemployment article.

Disclosure: Jon Brooks is a co-founder of Momentum Realty, a Florida real estate brokerage that owns and funds Florida Housing Intelligence. Momentum has a financial interest in Florida real estate transactions, including in markets named here. See our editorial standards.