The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area in Florida had the lowest jobless rate in January among all US metropolitan areas with more than 1 million in population at 2.4%, the US Bureau of Statistics reported today.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario areas of California had the highest rates at 5.5% each.

Among metropolitan areas of all sizes, Burlington-South Burlington, Vermont; Madison, Wisconsin; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, had the lowest unemployment rates at 2.0% each in January.

On the other hand, El Centro, California, had the highest rate among metro areas of all sizes at 17.8%.

Unemployment rates were higher in January than a year earlier in 218 of the 389 metropolitan areas, lower in 148 areas and unchanged in 23 areas. A total of 221 areas had January jobless rates below the US rate of 4.1%, and 161 areas had rates above it.

The BLS noted that 11 of the most populous metropolitan areas are made up of 38 metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers. In January, the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall area of Florida had the lowest division unemployment rate at 1.4%.

Elgin, Illinois, had the highest rate among the divisions at 6.5%.