The Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area in Minnesota and Wisconsin posted the lowest jobless rate among all large US metros in December at 2.5%, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Feb. 5.

Conversely, the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise area of Nevada recorded the highest rate in December among large metros with populations of 1 million or more at 5.9%.

Among metros of all sizes, the Rapid City metro area in South Dakota recorded the lowest unemployment rate at 1.8%, followed by Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at 1.9% and Ames, Iowa, at 2.0%.

Meanwhile, California’s El Centro metro area logged the highest unemployment rate among metro areas of all sizes in December at 17.8%.

The BLS also reported that unemployment rates were higher in December than a year earlier in 266 of the 389 metropolitan areas, lower in 95 and unchanged in 28.