Weekly U.S. Unemployment Update Amid COVID-19 | Week Ended 4/27/20

In case you missed it last week, we’ve teamed up with our data partner, Applied Geographic Solutions, to offer free unemployment data as a layer in SiteSeer. We’ll be updating the top metropolitan and micropolitan areas in the country every week here on the SiteSeer blog, and we encourage you to reach out to learn more about this data available in SiteSeer!

Let’s take a look at what happened between the weeks ended 4/18/20 and 4/27/20.

Metropolitan Areas with the Highest Unemployment

This is the list of the week’s metro areas with the highest unemployment rate:

#20: Savannah, Georgia | 35.88%

#19: Elizabethtown-Fort Knox, Kentucky | 35.93%

#18: Brunswick, Georgia | 36.08%

#17: Warner Robins, Georgia | 36.30%

#16: Macon-Bibb County, Georgia | 36.32%

#15: Flint, Michigan | 36.79%

#14: Rome, Georgia | 37.13%

#13: Hammond, Louisiana | 37.15%

#12: Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky | 37.33%

#11: Battle Creek, Michigan | 37.34%

#10: Saginaw, Michigan | 37.36%

#9: Muskegon, Michigan | 37.47%

#8: Owensboro, Kentucky | 37.76%

#7: Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada | 37.81%

#6: Gainesville, Georgia | 37.97%

#5: Valdosta, Georgia | 38.54%

#4: Bowling Green, Kentucky | 38.92%

#3: Athens-Clarke County, Georgia | 39.58%

#2: Dalton, Georgia | 40.86%

#1: Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina (Maui), Hawaii | 44.85%

A few notes:

• Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina (Maui), Hawaii | This metropolitan area came in last week with the highest unemployment rate, 40.07%. They take the top spot again this week, now at a 44.85% unemployment rate.
• Pennsylvania faring slightly better than other states | While last week, there were several Pennsylvania metropolitan areas in the top 20, this week, other states have surpassed Pennsylvania. State College, which was #13 last week at 32.7% unemployment, was #23 this week (at 35.26%)
• Michigan still struggling | Last week, eight of the 20 metro areas with the highest unemployment rates were from Michigan. There are four this week, but there are 11 metropolitan areas in Michigan with unemployment of over 30%.
• Georgia dominates the top 20 | Nine of the top 20 metropolitan areas with the highest unemployment rates are in Georgia, as compared to zero last week.
• Kentucky enters the list | Another newcomer to the top 20 list this week is Kentucky, with four metro areas.
• Several states faring the best | Once again, metropolitan areas in South Dakota and Utah make up much of the bottom 20 for unemployment rates. Sioux Falls, SD, went up slightly from 9.47% to 10.86% over the week, Ogden-Clearfield, UT, went up from 11.13% to 11.90%, and others moved around the same amount. We’re also seeing several metro areas in Texas (Amarillo is #20 at 15.81%, San Angelo is #19 at 15.78%, Austin-Round Rock is #17 at 15.69%) and Colorado (Fort Collins is #18 at 15.75%, Boulder is #16 at 15.5%, and Greeley is #13 at 15.37%).

Biggest Metropolitan Movers

• Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford tied for the biggest jump this week, a 32% increase. Naples increased from 17.55% to 23.18%, while Orlando increased from 17.63% to 23.18%.
• The top 20 movers for the week are all from Florida. Even #20 on the list, The Villages, Florida, saw a 29% increase (from 17.81% to 22.95%)

Micropolitan Areas with the Highest Unemployment

This is the list of the week’s micropolitan areas with the highest unemployment rate:

#20: Thomaston, Georgia | 36.0%

#19: Bardstown, Kentucky | 36.1%

#18 (tied): Ruston, Louisiana; Cornelia, Georgia; Sturgis, Michigan; Douglas, Georgia | 36.5%

#17: Thomasville, Georgia | 36.6%

#16: Ludington, Michigan | 37.1%

#15: Indiana, Pennsylvania | 37.2%

#14 (tied): LaGrange, Georgia; Saul Ste. Marie, Michigan | 37.3%

#13: Campbellsville, Kentucky | 37.5%

#12: Glasgow, Kentucky | 37.7%

#11 (tied): Middlesborough, Kentucky; Danville, Kentucky | 37.9%

#10 (tied): Somerset, Kentucky; Houghton, Michigan | 38.0%

#9: Big Rapids, Michigan | 38.1%

#8: London, Kentucky | 38.3%

#7: Richmond-Berea, Kentucky | 38.4%

#6: Mount Sterling, Kentucky | 38.6%

#5 (tied): Hilo, Hawaii; Cedartown, Georgia | 38.8%

#4 (tied): Mount Pleasant, Michigan; Marquette, Michigan; Statesboro, Georgia | 39.5

#3: Murray, Kentucky | 40.0%

#2: Cordele, Georgia | 40.2%

#1: Kapaa (Kauai), Hawaii | 48.0%

A few notes:

• Hawaii unemployment climbs | Hawaii’s Kapaa tops the list of micropolitan areas this week, with a staggering 48.0% unemployment up from 42.9% last week. Also in Hawaii, Hilo is #5 on the list, up from 34.8% to 38.8%.
• Michigan micropolitan areas are still struggling | This week, seven of the micropolitan areas on the list are from the state.
• Hard-hit micropolitan areas surpass 1 in 3 unemployed | All the micropolitan areas in the top 20 are 36.0% or higher.

Biggest Micropolitan Movers

• This week, the micropolitan area with the biggest jump over the week was Key West, Florida, which went from 17.3% to 22.7%--a 33% increase.
• As with the metro areas list, there are several Florida micro areas on the list, including Lake City (#2 with a 31% increase to 22.7%), Okeechobee (#3 with a 29% increase to 20.2%), Palatka (#4 with a 28% increase to 21.6%), Wauchula (#5 with a 26% increase to 19.0%), and Clewiston (#6 with a 25% increase to 17.2%).
• Micro areas in Georgia saw increases | Lots of Georgia micro areas increasing. In fact, most of the big movers for the week (21%+) were towns in Georgia.

Keep in mind several things as you review this list:

• Certain states’ restrictions were less strict than others. For example, South Dakota was one state that never issued mandatory stay-at-home orders, which could be why their unemployment is low. Same with Utah, which instead issued suggestions (but no mandates).
• States with high tourism are obviously seeing big unemployment numbers (e.g. Hawaii).
• It’s likely that states you see here are lagging in processing unemployment claims, hence big increases in unemployment figures in many cities this week (e.g. Florida and Georgia).

Plan for the Future

Without question, 2020 is going to be the year to plan for the future. And in doing so, it helps to have data so you can make smart decisions. If you need a tool to help you with market planning or site selection, reach out to the SiteSeer team for a demo.