The Washington D.C. area recorded the lowest jobless rate in January among all large metropolitan areas with populations of 1 million or more, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The jobless rate in the Washington area was 5.7 percent. The Minneapolis and Oklahoma City metropolitan area recorded the second-lowest rates at 5.9 percent each.

Recording the highest unemployment rate of large metropolitan area in January was Las Vegas at 13.1 percent. It was followed by the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area in Southern California at 12.4 percent.

Among U.S. metropolitan areas of all sizes, El Centro, Calif., posted the highest unemployment rate at 26.4 percent in January. Yuma, Ariz., posted the second-highest at 24.5 percent. Ten of the other 11 areas with jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent in January were located in California.

Bismarck, N.D. and Lincoln, Neb., recorded the lowest unemployment rate among metropolitan areas of all sizes at 3.8 percent each.