August Unemployment Was 4.6 Percent in Florida and 4.7 Percent in Tampa

Florida’s unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in August 2026, and the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater rate was 4.7 percent. Both figures are not seasonally adjusted, and both are preliminary. A year earlier, in August 2025, Florida was 4.3 percent and the Tampa metro was 4.3 percent. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published the metropolitan release at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. The release number is USDL-26-1548. The national unemployment rate in this file, also not seasonally adjusted, was 4.3 percent.

This file is August metropolitan unemployment. The September national employment situation is the separate BLS release.

A buyer, a seller, or an owner in Hernando, Citrus, Pasco, Hillsborough, or Pinellas reads this as the local labor-force tape for August. Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas sit inside Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Citrus is the Homosassa Springs metro, at 6.7 percent. The house coupon in force is the October 1 Freddie Mac survey: 7.28 percent on the 30-year fixed and 6.60 percent on the 15-year fixed. The policy range after the September 16 FOMC hike is 3.75–4.00 percent. Statewide context stays on Florida markets. A purchase or a sale sits on residential. A written quote starts on the mortgage page.

What the release measures

The news release is two monthly programs published together. Civilian labor force and unemployment use the same concepts as the national household survey, and they count people by where they live. Nonfarm payroll employment comes from the establishment survey, and it counts jobs by where the workplace is. A person who lives in Pasco and works in Hillsborough is in the Pasco residence count and on a Hillsborough payroll. The two Tampa numbers in this release can move differently for that reason.

Every rate in the tables is not seasonally adjusted. A summer month and a winter month carry the seasonal pattern inside the printed rate. The bureau’s national headline in the Employment Situation is the seasonally adjusted rate. The 4.3 percent national figure in this metropolitan release is the August rate before that adjustment. The 4.2 percent in the September employment situation is a later month and the adjusted national rate.

August 2026 is marked preliminary. The table note says estimates for the latest month are subject to revision the following month. Measures of sampling error are not available for metropolitan areas or metropolitan divisions. Model-based error measures exist for states, on a separate BLS page, and they are not printed in this news release. A tenth of a point on a metro rate is the printed estimate. It does not come with the confidence interval Census attaches to a construction-spending percent.

Over the year, unemployment rates were lower in 234 of the 387 metropolitan areas, higher in 126, and unchanged in 27. Twenty-seven areas had rates under 3.0 percent. Six areas had rates of at least 8.0 percent. Cleveland, Ohio, had the lowest rate, 1.8 percent. El Centro, California, had the highest, 21.9 percent. 230 areas were below the U.S. rate of 4.3 percent, 142 were above it, and 15 matched it.

Florida was 4.6 percent

Table 1 prints Florida’s August 2026 civilian labor force at 11,137,393 and the number of unemployed people at 507,443. Divide those two counts and the rate is 4.6 percent. In August 2025 the labor force was 11,097,216, unemployed people numbered 475,708, and the rate was 4.3 percent. July 2026 was also 4.6 percent, on a labor force of 11,083,016 and 514,524 unemployed people.

The year is a rise of 0.3 percentage point, from 4.3 to 4.6. The labor force grew by 40,177 people. The unemployed count grew by 31,735. Employed residents, the labor force minus the unemployed, were 10,629,950 in August 2026 and 10,621,508 in August 2025, a difference of 8,442. Those three gaps are arithmetic on the printed counts. The rate rose because the unemployed count rose by more than the count of employed residents, inside a labor force that was larger than a year earlier.

Florida’s 4.6 percent sits above the national 4.3 percent in this same not-seasonally-adjusted file. The state is one row. A Hernando household and a Miami household are inside that 4.6 only as residents of Florida. The metro rows are the next cut.

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater was 4.7 percent

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area had an August 2026 unemployment rate of 4.7 percent. The labor force was 1,701,523. Unemployed people numbered 79,203. In August 2025 the rate was 4.3 percent, the labor force was 1,693,154, and unemployed people numbered 72,537. July 2026 was 4.8 percent.

From August 2025 to August 2026 the metro rate rose 0.4 percentage point. The labor force grew by 8,369. The unemployed count grew by 6,666. Employed residents were 1,622,320 in August 2026 and 1,620,617 a year earlier, a difference of 1,703. The same pattern as the state shows up in the metro: a larger labor force, a larger unemployed count, and a small rise in the number of employed residents. The rate is higher because unemployment grew faster than employment inside that labor force.

The metropolitan area is Hernando County, Hillsborough County, Pasco County, and Pinellas County. That is the same four-county area the August building-permits briefing uses when it prints Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. This unemployment table does not split the four counties. A 4.7 percent metro rate is not a Hernando rate, a Pasco rate, a Hillsborough rate, or a Pinellas rate.

BLS does print two metropolitan divisions inside the area. The Tampa division was 4.8 percent in August 2026, on a labor force of 1,207,616 and 57,913 unemployed people. A year earlier that division was 4.4 percent. July 2026 was 4.9 percent. The St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo division was 4.3 percent, on a labor force of 493,907 and 21,290 unemployed people. A year earlier that division was 4.0 percent. July 2026 was 4.4 percent. The metro’s 4.7 percent is the combination of a 4.8 percent Tampa division and a 4.3 percent St. Petersburg division. The release still does not print the county inside either division.

A tenth of a point from July to August, 4.8 to 4.7 on the metro, is the raw monthly move. It is not seasonally adjusted, and the release does not test it the way it tests over-the-year payroll changes. The year, 4.3 to 4.7, is the comparison that lines the metro up with the 126 areas whose rates were higher than a year earlier.

Homosassa Springs was 6.7 percent. Ocala was 5.7 percent.

Citrus County is the Homosassa Springs metropolitan area. Its August 2026 unemployment rate was 6.7 percent. The labor force was 54,520. Unemployed people numbered 3,664. In August 2025 the rate was 6.2 percent, the labor force was 54,914, and unemployed people numbered 3,409. July 2026 was 6.8 percent.

The Homosassa rate rose 0.5 percentage point over the year. The labor force was 394 people smaller. The unemployed count was 255 people larger. Employed residents were 50,856 in August 2026 and 51,505 a year earlier, a difference of 649 fewer. On this small metro, the higher rate is a smaller labor force and a larger unemployed count together. A 6.7 percent rate on 54,520 people is 3,664 people. It is also 2.0 percentage points above the Tampa metro and 2.4 percentage points above the national 4.3 percent in this file.

Marion County is the Ocala metropolitan area. Its August 2026 rate was 5.7 percent. The labor force was 162,595. Unemployed people numbered 9,292. In August 2025 the rate was 5.3 percent, the labor force was 162,109, and unemployed people numbered 8,634. July 2026 was 5.8 percent. The labor force grew by 486. The unemployed count grew by 658. Employed residents were 153,303 against 153,475 a year earlier. The rate rose 0.4 percentage point while the count of employed residents was a little smaller.

Homosassa Springs at 6.7 percent and Ocala at 5.7 percent are the local rates for the two counties just north of the Tampa metro. They are higher than Tampa’s 4.7 percent and higher than Florida’s 4.6 percent. The Citrus population and school briefing is the headcount of residents and students. The Marion population briefing is the April 1 estimate. This release is the August unemployment rate for the people in those places who are in the labor force.

The other Florida rates on the same table

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach was 3.7 percent in August 2026, the same rate as August 2025 and the same rate as July 2026. Its labor force was 3,292,024, and unemployed people numbered 121,874. Among the 56 metropolitan areas with a 2020 Census population of 1 million or more, the release names Cleveland at 1.8 percent as the lowest large-area rate and Fresno, California, at 7.8 percent as the highest. Miami’s 3.7 percent is the low large rate inside Florida. The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall division was 2.7 percent, and the release names that division as the lowest unemployment rate among the 37 metropolitan divisions.

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford was 4.6 percent, up from 4.2 percent in August 2025. Jacksonville was 4.8 percent, up from 4.4 percent. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota was 4.9 percent, up from 4.6 percent. Cape Coral-Fort Myers was 5.2 percent, up from 4.7 percent. Lakeland-Winter Haven, the metro on Polk County next to Hillsborough, was 5.6 percent, up from 5.3 percent, on a labor force of 364,197 and 20,441 unemployed people. Naples-Marco Island was 5.0 percent, up from 4.7 percent.

Wildwood-The Villages was 7.9 percent, the same rate as July 2026 and up from 7.1 percent in August 2025, on a labor force of 35,343. A 7.9 percent rate on a labor force of that size is 2,786 unemployed people. It is a high rate on a small area. It is one of the higher Florida prints on this table, alongside Homosassa Springs at 6.7 percent and Sebring at 6.8 percent.

Read as a list, the large Florida metros sit in a band from Miami’s unchanged 3.7 percent to Jacksonville’s 4.8 percent, with Tampa at 4.7 and Orlando and the state at 4.6. The smaller metros north and inland of Tampa — Lakeland, Ocala, Homosassa Springs — printed higher. Every one of those comparisons is not seasonally adjusted, and every August 2026 figure is preliminary.

Payrolls are the other count

Table 3 counts jobs on payrolls, in thousands, by where the establishment is. Florida’s August 2026 nonfarm payroll employment was 9,994.7 thousand, which is 9,994,700 jobs. August 2025 was 9,933.3 thousand. The table’s over-the-year change is +61.4 thousand, or +0.6 percent.

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater payrolls were 1,559.6 thousand in August 2026, 1,559,600 jobs, against 1,545.4 thousand in August 2025. The table’s change is +14.2 thousand, or +0.9 percent. The Tampa division was 1,079.6 thousand, up 12.5 thousand, or 1.2 percent. The St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo division was 480.0 thousand, up 1.7 thousand, or 0.4 percent.

Homosassa Springs payrolls were 36.7 thousand, down 0.2 thousand, or 0.5 percent, from 36.9 thousand. Ocala payrolls were 126.7 thousand, up 1.5 thousand, or 1.2 percent, from 125.2 thousand. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach was 2,967.1 thousand, up 10.4 thousand, or 0.4 percent. Orlando was 1,508.3 thousand, up 11.9 thousand, or 0.8 percent. Jacksonville was 803.8 thousand, up 0.5 thousand, or 0.1 percent. Lakeland-Winter Haven was 283.4 thousand, up 3.6 thousand, or 1.3 percent.

The news release cites an over-the-year payroll change only when it is statistically significant at the 90 percent confidence level. It names nine metropolitan areas with an increase and five with a decrease, and it describes the other 373 areas as essentially unchanged. The increases it names are Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, and, on a percentage basis, Baton Rouge, Myrtle Beach, and Salt Lake City. Among areas of 1 million or more, it names Salt Lake City, Raleigh, and San Jose. The decreases it names include Washington-Arlington-Alexandria and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro. No Florida metropolitan area is on either list. The +14,200 Tampa payroll change and the +61,400 Florida payroll change are the figures in the table. They are not changes the release cites as statistically significant.

The residence count and the payroll count answer different questions even when they share a name. Tampa’s employed residents rose by about 1,700 over the year. Tampa’s payrolls rose by 14,200 on the table’s point estimate. One counts people who live in the metro. The other counts jobs located in the metro, including jobs held by people who live outside it, and it leaves out residents who work outside it. Adding 1,700 and 14,200 does not produce a local hiring figure.

Next to the September national jobs report

The September employment situation, USDL-26-1549, published October 2, put the seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate at 4.2 percent and the change in nonfarm payrolls at +29,000. Average hourly earnings were $37.81, up 3.0 percent over the year. That release said the national rate had stayed between 4.1 percent and 4.3 percent since March, and it said a Florida rate and a Tampa rate for September would come in later files.

This metropolitan release is the August file, not that September file. Its national comparison rate is 4.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Florida at 4.6 percent and Tampa at 4.7 percent are above that August national rate. They are not a restatement of the September 4.2 percent, and they are not seasonally adjusted versions of themselves. September state unemployment is scheduled for October 20. September metropolitan unemployment is scheduled for October 28.

Construction payrolls in the September national release changed little, at +11,000, with nonresidential specialty trades at +12,000. August construction spending ran at a $2,203.1 billion annual rate. A paycheck, a job located in Tampa, and a dollar of construction work put in place are three counts. The August unemployment rate says how large a share of the local labor force was unemployed. It does not say what a house in Spring Hill, Lecanto, Wesley Chapel, Tampa, or Clearwater should sell for.

The July House Price Index rose 0.3 percent on the month and 2.6 percent on the year, with the South Atlantic division, including Florida, up 1.8 percent on the year. That is a repeat-sales price index for July. This is an August labor-force rate. A buyer still underwrites the payment on the October 1 survey, 7.28 percent, plus taxes and insurance on the house.

What a buyer, a seller, and an owner do with it

For a buyer, the useful local fact is which rate covers the county. A house in Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, or Pinellas sits inside the 4.7 percent Tampa metro, and the release does not go finer than the two divisions, 4.8 percent and 4.3 percent. A house in Citrus sits inside the 6.7 percent Homosassa Springs rate. A house in Marion sits inside the 5.7 percent Ocala rate. None of those rates is a wage, a down payment, or an approval. The payment is the written quote. The Florida home buying guide is the purchase process. Residential buying is the address.

For a seller, a 4.7 percent metro rate means employed residents are still most of the labor force: 1,622,320 employed residents against 79,203 unemployed people in the Tampa metro. It also means the rate is higher than it was in August 2025. A list price still comes from the comps and the condition of the house, which is the subject of the pricing guide. Home selling is the listing.

For an owner of a building, payrolls are the place-of-work count, and the release did not cite a Florida metro payroll change as statistically significant. The table’s Tampa payroll level is 1,559,600. A bay’s rent is not in USDL-26-1548. County files stay on their own pages: the Hernando market update, the Citrus overview, the Pasco overview, the Hillsborough overview, and the Pinellas overview.

The through-line

In August 2026, not seasonally adjusted and preliminary, Florida’s unemployment rate was 4.6 percent, up from 4.3 percent in August 2025. The labor force was 11,137,393. Unemployed people numbered 507,443. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater was 4.7 percent, up from 4.3 percent, with 79,203 unemployed people in a labor force of 1,701,523. The Tampa division was 4.8 percent. The St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo division was 4.3 percent.

Homosassa Springs was 6.7 percent, up from 6.2 percent. Ocala was 5.7 percent, up from 5.3 percent. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach was 3.7 percent, unchanged over the year, and the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall division, at 2.7 percent, was the lowest division rate in the release. The national rate in this file was 4.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

Florida payrolls were 9,994,700, and the table prints a gain of 61,400, or 0.6 percent. Tampa payrolls were 1,559,600, and the table prints a gain of 14,200, or 0.9 percent. The release did not cite either change as statistically significant. September’s state and metropolitan rates are scheduled for October 20 and October 28.

Dates already on the calendar

• FOMC minutes of the September 15–16 meeting: Wednesday, October 7, 2026, 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
• Freddie Mac PMMS: Thursday, October 8, 2026. The October 1 survey, at 7.28 percent and 6.60 percent, is the weekly average in force until that release.
• Consumer Price Index for September: Wednesday, October 14, 2026, 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
• State Employment and Unemployment for September: Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 10:00 a.m. Eastern.
• September housing starts: Census and HUD, Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
• Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment for September: Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 10:00 a.m. Eastern.
• FOMC meeting: October 27–28. The statement is due at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on October 28. That meeting does not include a new Summary of Economic Projections.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment — August 2026, USDL-26-1548, released Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 10:00 a.m. Eastern (unemployment rates lower over the year in 234 of 387 metropolitan areas, higher in 126, unchanged in 27; 27 areas under 3.0 percent; 6 areas at 8.0 percent or more; Cleveland, OH, 1.8 percent; El Centro, CA, 21.9 percent; national unemployment rate 4.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted; 230 areas below the U.S. rate, 142 above, 15 equal; Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall the lowest metropolitan-division rate at 2.7 percent; nonfarm payroll employment increased in 9 areas, decreased in 5, and was essentially unchanged in 373; changes cited only when statistically significant at the 90 percent confidence level; next state release October 20, 2026, and next metropolitan release October 28, 2026). Table 1, civilian labor force and unemployment, not seasonally adjusted, August 2026 preliminary (Florida labor force 11,137,393, unemployed 507,443, rate 4.6 percent; August 2025 labor force 11,097,216, unemployed 475,708, rate 4.3 percent; July 2026 rate 4.6 percent; Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater labor force 1,701,523, unemployed 79,203, rate 4.7 percent; August 2025 rate 4.3 percent; July 2026 rate 4.8 percent; Homosassa Springs labor force 54,520, unemployed 3,664, rate 6.7 percent; August 2025 rate 6.2 percent; Ocala labor force 162,595, unemployed 9,292, rate 5.7 percent; August 2025 rate 5.3 percent; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach rate 3.7 percent in August 2026 and August 2025; Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford 4.6 percent, up from 4.2 percent; Jacksonville 4.8 percent, up from 4.4 percent; North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota 4.9 percent, up from 4.6 percent; Cape Coral-Fort Myers 5.2 percent, up from 4.7 percent; Lakeland-Winter Haven labor force 364,197, unemployed 20,441, rate 5.6 percent, up from 5.3 percent; Naples-Marco Island 5.0 percent, up from 4.7 percent; Wildwood-The Villages labor force 35,343, rate 7.9 percent, up from 7.1 percent; Sebring 6.8 percent). Table 2, metropolitan divisions (Tampa division labor force 1,207,616, unemployed 57,913, rate 4.8 percent, August 2025 rate 4.4 percent; St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo division labor force 493,907, unemployed 21,290, rate 4.3 percent, August 2025 rate 4.0 percent; Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall 2.7 percent). Table 3, nonfarm payrolls in thousands, not seasonally adjusted (Florida August 2026 9,994.7, August 2025 9,933.3, change +61.4 thousand and +0.6 percent; Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 1,559.6 and 1,545.4, +14.2 thousand and +0.9 percent; Homosassa Springs 36.7 and 36.9, −0.2 thousand and −0.5 percent; Ocala 126.7 and 125.2, +1.5 thousand and +1.2 percent; Miami 2,967.1, +10.4 thousand and +0.4 percent; Orlando 1,508.3, +11.9 thousand and +0.8 percent; Jacksonville 803.8, +0.5 thousand and +0.1 percent; Lakeland-Winter Haven 283.4, +3.6 thousand and +1.3 percent). Table 4 (Tampa division payrolls 1,079.6, change +12.5 thousand and +1.2 percent; St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo 480.0, change +1.7 thousand and +0.4 percent). Area definitions from BLS, based on Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 23-01: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater comprises Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties; Homosassa Springs is Citrus County; Ocala is Marion County. Technical note: labor-force data refer to place of residence; payroll data refer to place of work; metropolitan sampling-error measures for the labor force are not available in the release; August 2026 estimates are preliminary. BLS Employment Situation — September 2026, USDL-26-1549, only as already briefed. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey as of October 1, 2026, and the FOMC statement of September 16, 2026, only as already briefed.

For help reading a Hernando, Citrus, Pasco, Hillsborough, or Pinellas purchase or sale against this unemployment rate and a current written quote, contact Bridge Point Business & Real Estate Advisors at 352-515-0226 or request a consultation.