The Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area in Minnesota and Wisconsin posted the lowest unemployment rate among all large, US metropolitan areas in September at 2.2%, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today.

The New Orleans-Metairie area in Louisiana posted the highest jobless rate among large metropolitan areas in September at 4.8%, followed by the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise area in Nevada at 4.7%.

The lowest unemployment rate among metropolitan areas of all sizes was in Ames, Iowa, at 1.4%. El Centro, Calif., and Yuma, Ariz., had the highest unemployment rates at 19.3% and 19.1%, respectively.

The bureau reported Hurricane Florence affected parts of the East Coast during the September reference periods for the establishment and household surveys. Response rates for the two surveys were within normal ranges both nationally and for the affected areas.