Florida's September Jobless Rate Is 4.4%. Citrus County Is 6.3%.

Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in September 2026. That is 0.1 percentage point under August's 4.5 percent and 0.2 percentage point above September 2025. The Florida Department of Commerce counted 489,000 unemployed people in a civilian labor force of 11,114,000. Seasonally adjusted nonfarm payrolls were 10,045,400, up 5,300 jobs over the month and 59,800 over the year.

The same release, posted Friday, October 16, 2026, prints county and metro rates without seasonal adjustment. On that table, Citrus County is 6.3 percent, Hernando County is 5.0 percent, Pasco County is 4.7 percent, Hillsborough County is 4.3 percent, and Pinellas County is 4.1 percent. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro is 4.3 percent. Florida's own not-seasonally-adjusted rate is 4.2 percent.

The opening paragraph of the release places the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.2 percent in August. The seasonally adjusted table in the same file prints the United States at 4.2 percent in September 2026 and 4.1 percent in August 2026. The county and payroll figures below follow that table and the industry tables released with it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics state employment release for September is on the calendar for Tuesday, October 20. This page is the October 16 Florida file.

The national Employment Situation for September, published October 2, is the separate U.S. payroll and unemployment release: payrolls rose 29,000 and the U.S. rate was 4.2 percent. August's metro rates are the earlier briefing: Florida 4.6 percent and Tampa 4.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Statewide context stays on Florida markets. A purchase or a sale sits on residential.

The seasonally adjusted scoreboard

The labor-force table is labeled release date October 16, 2026. September is preliminary. August is revised. Estimates other than rates are rounded to the nearest thousand, and the note says items may not add to totals because of that rounding.

Florida, seasonally adjusted:

• Civilian noninstitutional population 16 and older: 19,383,000, up 13,000 from August and 118,000 from September 2025.
• Civilian labor force: 11,114,000, down 1,000 from August. The percent change is marked as less than 0.1 percent. Over the year the labor force is up 21,000, or 0.2 percent, from 11,093,000.
• Employment: 10,625,000, up 13,000 on the month. Over the year, employment is down 7,000, or 0.1 percent, from 10,632,000.
• Unemployment: 489,000, down 13,000 from 502,000 in August, a 2.6 percent decline in the level. Over the year, unemployment is up 28,000, or 6.1 percent, from 461,000.
• Unemployment rate: 4.4 percent, from 4.5 percent in August and 4.2 percent in September 2025.

The United States row on that same seasonally adjusted block:

• Unemployment rate: 4.2 percent in September, 4.1 percent in August, 4.4 percent in September 2025.
• Unemployment level: 7,109,000, up 78,000 from 7,031,000 in August, and down 496,000 from 7,605,000 a year earlier.
• Labor force: 170,262,000, up 485,000 on the month and down 999,000 over the year.

Florida's seasonally adjusted rate sits 0.2 percentage point above the U.S. September rate on this table. A year earlier the order ran the other way: Florida 4.2 percent, United States 4.4 percent. The level that moved Florida's rate down a tenth this month is the 13,000 drop in unemployment, with employment up 13,000 and the labor force essentially unchanged.

The not-seasonally-adjusted block is the one that lines up with county rates. Florida's NSA rate is 4.2 percent in September, 4.6 percent in August, and 4.2 percent in September 2025. The NSA labor force is 11,175,000. Employment is 10,709,000. Unemployment is 466,000, down 41,000 from August. The U.S. NSA rate is 4.0 percent, from 4.3 percent in August and 4.3 percent a year earlier.

August's NSA Florida rate of 4.6 percent on this October 16 file is the same 4.6 percent in the August metro briefing. That earlier page used the Bureau of Labor Statistics metropolitan release of September 30. This page uses the October 16 cooperative file. The August column here still prints Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater at 4.7 percent, the Tampa division at 4.8 percent, St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo at 4.3 percent, Homosassa Springs at 6.7 percent, and Ocala at 5.7 percent.

Where the counties sit

County rates in this release are not seasonally adjusted. September is preliminary. The rank list puts Taylor County first at 7.7 percent and Miami-Dade last at 1.9 percent. Citrus County shares third-highest with Highlands County, both at 6.3 percent. Sumter County is second at 7.6 percent.

The five counties on this firm's map, September versus August versus September 2025:

• Citrus County: labor force 54,406, employment 50,987, unemployment 3,419, rate 6.3 percent. August was 6.7 percent on a labor force of 54,525 and 3,662 unemployed. A year earlier the rate was also 6.3 percent, with a labor force of 55,191 and 3,458 unemployed.
• Hernando County: labor force 91,599, employment 87,000, unemployment 4,599, rate 5.0 percent. August was 5.4 percent. A year earlier the rate was 4.9 percent, with 4,448 unemployed.
• Pasco County: labor force 303,387, employment 289,173, unemployment 14,214, rate 4.7 percent. August was 5.0 percent. A year earlier the rate was 4.6 percent, with 13,747 unemployed.
• Hillsborough County: labor force 816,508, employment 781,359, unemployment 35,149, rate 4.3 percent. August was 4.6 percent. A year earlier the rate was 4.2 percent, with 34,148 unemployed.
• Pinellas County: labor force 494,767, employment 474,569, unemployment 20,198, rate 4.1 percent. August was 4.3 percent. A year earlier the rate was 4.0 percent, with 19,892 unemployed.

Marion County, the next county inland, is 5.4 percent: labor force 162,946, employment 154,173, unemployment 8,773. August was 5.7 percent. September 2025 was 5.3 percent. On the rank list Marion shares the 5.4 percent line with Dixie County.

Add the three northern Tampa-division counties. Hillsborough 816,508, Pasco 303,387, and Hernando 91,599 sum to 1,211,494, which is the Tampa metropolitan division's labor force on the metro table. Their unemployed counts, 35,149, 14,214, and 4,599, sum to 53,962, the division's unemployment level. The division rate is 4.5 percent. Pinellas County's row is identical to the St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo division: labor force 494,767 and a 4.1 percent rate. Those two divisions sum to the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater labor force of 1,706,261 and unemployment of 74,160, a 4.3 percent rate.

Citrus County's row is identical to the Homosassa Springs metro row: 54,406 in the labor force and 6.3 percent. Marion County's row is identical to the Ocala metro row: 162,946 and 5.4 percent. Sumter County's row is identical to Wildwood-The Villages: 35,336 and 7.6 percent. A sentence about the Homosassa Springs rate is a sentence about Citrus County on this file. A sentence about the Ocala rate is a sentence about Marion County.

The household counts move in both directions inside a tenth of a point. Citrus unemployment fell from 3,662 in August to 3,419 in September, and the labor force slipped from 54,525 to 54,406. Over the year the Citrus labor force is down from 55,191, and the unemployment level is down from 3,458, so the rate is unchanged at 6.3 percent on a smaller labor force. Hernando's unemployment level fell from 4,963 to 4,599 on the month and is still above the year-ago level of 4,448. Pasco's unemployment fell from 15,154 to 14,214 and remains above 13,747 a year earlier. Hillsborough's fell from 37,764 to 35,149, above 34,148 a year earlier. Pinellas fell from 21,281 to 20,198, above 19,892 a year earlier.

Florida's NSA rate of 4.2 percent is the statewide comparison for those counties. Citrus at 6.3 percent, Hernando at 5.0 percent, Marion at 5.4 percent, and Pasco at 4.7 percent sit above it. Hillsborough at 4.3 percent is a tenth above it. Pinellas at 4.1 percent is a tenth under it. The U.S. NSA rate on the same page is 4.0 percent.

Tampa, Homosassa Springs, and Ocala

Metro unemployment rates are also not seasonally adjusted. The rank list of metros and divisions puts Wildwood-The Villages first at 7.6 percent. Homosassa Springs shares second with Sebring, both at 6.3 percent. Ocala is fifth at 5.4 percent. The Tampa division shares the 4.5 percent line. St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo shares the 4.1 percent line. The combined Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater rate of 4.3 percent is on the metro labor-force table.

September levels, with August and the year-ago rate:

• Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater: labor force 1,706,261, employment 1,632,101, unemployment 74,160, rate 4.3 percent. August was 4.7 percent. September 2025 was 4.2 percent.
• Tampa division: labor force 1,211,494, employment 1,157,532, unemployment 53,962, rate 4.5 percent. August was 4.8 percent. September 2025 was 4.3 percent.
• St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo: labor force 494,767, employment 474,569, unemployment 20,198, rate 4.1 percent. August was 4.3 percent. September 2025 was 4.0 percent.
• Homosassa Springs: labor force 54,406, employment 50,987, unemployment 3,419, rate 6.3 percent. August was 6.7 percent. September 2025 was 6.3 percent.
• Ocala: labor force 162,946, employment 154,173, unemployment 8,773, rate 5.4 percent. August was 5.7 percent. September 2025 was 5.3 percent.

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach is 3.2 percent, down from 3.7 percent in August and from 3.6 percent a year earlier. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford is 4.2 percent. Jacksonville is 4.5 percent. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota is 4.7 percent. Those are context lines from the same table. They are household rates for September.

Payroll employment is the other half of the release, and it counts jobs by place of work. The not-seasonally-adjusted jobs table, rounded to the nearest hundred, prints these September levels and the over-the-year change the news summary uses:

• Tampa division: 1,079,200 jobs, up 1,000 on the month and 15,100 over the year, 1.4 percent. That is the largest over-the-year gain among the metros named in the summary.
• Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater: 1,557,700 jobs, up 300 on the month and 16,200 over the year, 1.1 percent.
• St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo: 478,500 jobs, down 700 on the month and up 1,100 over the year, 0.2 percent.
• Homosassa Springs: 36,600 jobs, down 100 on the month and down 200 over the year, 0.5 percent. The summary names Homosassa Springs as the metro that lost jobs over the year. Wildwood-The Villages was unchanged, at 43,100 in each of the three columns.
• Ocala: 126,300 jobs, unchanged on the month and up 1,200 over the year, 1.0 percent.

A seasonally adjusted jobs table sits at the end of the file and prints a different year-over-year change for some of the same names. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 1,562,700, down 200 on the month and up 15,000 over the year, 1.0 percent. The Tampa division is 1,081,600, up 13,400 over the year, 1.3 percent. St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo is 483,200, up 3,600 over the year, 0.8 percent. Homosassa Springs is 36,800, up 100 on the month and down 100 over the year. Ocala is 127,000, up 900 over the year, 0.7 percent. The summary's 15,100 and the 200-job Homosassa loss are the not-seasonally-adjusted lines. The seasonally adjusted lines are the ones with the superscripts for preliminary and revised.

Household employment and payroll jobs answer different questions on the same release. Citrus County's household employment is 50,987 people. Homosassa Springs payroll employment is 36,600 jobs. Both figures are in the October 16 file. One counts residents who are employed. The other counts jobs at workplaces in the metro. A resident of Citrus who works in Hernando or Marion is in the first count where they live and in the second count where the job is.

Payroll jobs, including construction and real estate

Statewide, seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment is 10,045,400, up from a revised 10,040,100 in August and from 9,985,600 in September 2025. The month is 5,300 jobs, 0.1 percent. The year is 59,800 jobs, 0.6 percent. Total private employment is 8,903,700, up 7,700 on the month and 68,700 over the year. The release says national jobs rose 0.3 percent over the year. That national percent is the comparison printed next to Florida's 0.6 percent. It is a different sentence from the October 2 national payroll change of 29,000.

Six of ten major industries gained jobs over the year. The release prints the gains this way: education and health services 40,300 jobs, 2.5 percent; professional and business services 19,300, 1.2 percent; leisure and hospitality 16,800, 1.3 percent; trade, transportation, and utilities 8,300, 0.4 percent; construction 3,300, 0.5 percent; manufacturing 2,100, 0.5 percent. The industries that lost jobs over the year are financial activities, 15,800 jobs, 2.3 percent; total government, 8,900, 0.8 percent; information, 3,600, 2.4 percent; and other services, 2,100, 0.5 percent.

The seasonally adjusted industry table puts the levels under those percents.

• Construction: 657,000, up 100 on the month. The percent is marked as less than 0.1. A year earlier construction was 653,700. Mining, logging, and construction together are 662,600, down 100 on the month and up 3,400 over the year.
• Manufacturing: 428,900, unchanged on the month, up 2,100 over the year. Durable goods are 300,700, up 6,500 over the year. Nondurable goods are 128,200, down 4,400 over the year.
• Education and health services: 1,637,200, up 3,500 on the month. Health care and social assistance are 1,417,600, up 40,100 over the year, 2.9 percent. That 40,100 is nearly the whole 40,300 education-and-health gain.
• Leisure and hospitality: 1,345,300, up 5,100 on the month. Arts, entertainment, and recreation account for 13,300 of the 16,800 yearly gain. Accommodation and food services account for 3,500.
• Financial activities: 674,000, down 3,500 on the month from 677,500, and down 15,800 from 689,800 a year earlier. Finance and insurance are 455,100, down 12,800 over the year. Real estate, rental, and leasing are 218,900, down 1,300 on the month from 220,200 and down 3,000 over the year from 221,900, 1.4 percent.
• Total government: 1,141,700, down 2,400 on the month and 8,900 over the year. Federal government is 152,100, down 7,400 over the year, 4.6 percent. State government is down 4,300 over the year. Local government is 737,000, up 2,800 over the year.

The not-seasonally-adjusted industry detail is where construction splits into trades, and where real estate splits from rental and leasing. Those NSA levels are a different adjustment from the 657,000 and the 218,900 above.

• Construction, NSA: 657,000, down 900 on the month from 657,900, and up 4,000 over the year from 653,000, 0.6 percent.
• Construction of buildings: 136,300, up 2,300 over the year, 1.7 percent.
• Heavy and civil engineering: 89,500, up 3,200 over the year, 3.7 percent.
• Specialty trade contractors: 431,200, down 1,500 over the year, 0.3 percent. Building equipment contractors are 198,000, up 2,000 over the year.
• Real estate, NSA: 167,500, down 1,800 on the month and 3,200 over the year, 1.9 percent. The broader real estate and rental and leasing line is 218,300, down 2,600 on the month and 3,100 over the year.
• Building material and garden equipment dealers: 94,800, down 1,700 over the year, 1.8 percent.
• Services to buildings and dwellings: 202,700, down 4,700 on the month and 2,200 over the year.
• Architectural, engineering, and related services: 114,600, up 1,700 over the year, 1.5 percent.

Statewide NSA nonfarm employment is 9,997,700, up 8,900 on the month and 71,700 over the year, 0.7 percent. The seasonally adjusted statewide total of 10,045,400 is the figure in the opening of the release. Both are October 16 numbers. The adjustment is the difference.

The release says both the unemployment estimates and the job estimates are revised monthly, and that they are benchmarked annually to Florida Reemployment Assistance tax records and other data. Procedures mandated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics may produce more variable month-to-month changes. September in this file is preliminary. August is revised. A tenth of a point on a county rate can move when the next file posts. Labor market data for October 2026 are scheduled for November 20, 2026, at 10:00 a.m.

How a buyer, a seller, or an owner uses the rates

For a buyer, the rate that matches the house is the county row, and it is not seasonally adjusted. A house in Citrus County sits in a 6.3 percent September rate, 3,419 unemployed people, and a Homosassa Springs payroll count that is 200 jobs under a year earlier. A house in Pinellas sits in a 4.1 percent rate. A house in Hernando sits in a 5.0 percent rate, inside a Tampa division whose household rate is 4.5 percent and whose workplaces added 15,100 jobs over the year on the NSA table. The price of the house still comes from that house and from current sales of similar houses. The September existing-home sales briefing is the national resale pace of 3.99 million and the South median of $361,000. The October 8 Freddie Mac survey is the 30-year rate of 7.40 percent and the 15-year rate of 6.73 percent. The October Beige Book is the Sixth District note that home sales improved and that more Florida sales closed under the asking price. Those are three other official files. This page is the labor file.

For a seller, the sentence a buyer can check is the county line and the vintage. September 2026, preliminary, not seasonally adjusted: Citrus 6.3, Hernando 5.0, Pasco 4.7, Hillsborough 4.3, Pinellas 4.1, Marion 5.4, Florida 4.2. The seasonally adjusted statewide rate is 4.4 percent. August's NSA drop, from 4.6 percent to 4.2 percent statewide, is the comparison with the August briefing. A contract that falls through is a different file: 14.5 percent of September pending sales were canceled, and Tampa's share in that report was 18.8 percent. A homestead bill is a different file again: the non-school exemption math.

For an owner who is staying, the labor file is the local job base next to a tax bill and a permit count. Citrus authorized 2,102 housing units in the 2025 annual permit file, and the school district's preliminary enrollment projection was 14,845. That pairing is the Citrus permits and school-work-plan briefing. The September unemployment rate of 6.3 percent is the household survey for that month, beside the permit total and the student projection. Marion's April 1, 2025 population of 433,765 is the population briefing. Ocala's 5.4 percent unemployment rate is this labor file. The two dates and the two agencies stay apart.

For a commercial user, the useful split is household rate versus payroll jobs. A site in the Tampa division can cite 15,100 more NSA jobs over the year and a 4.5 percent household rate. A site in Homosassa Springs can cite 36,600 payroll jobs, 200 fewer than a year earlier, and a 6.3 percent household rate that matches Citrus. Statewide construction payrolls are 657,000 on both the seasonally adjusted level and the NSA level this month, with a 3,300 seasonally adjusted gain over the year and a 4,000 NSA gain over the year. Real estate, rental, and leasing are down 3,000 seasonally adjusted jobs over the year, to 218,900. A rent, a vacancy rate, and a cap rate are not in this release. Commercial is the service layer when the question is a building. The local guides are the Citrus market overview, the Hernando market update, the Pasco market overview, the Hillsborough market overview, and the Pinellas market overview.

For a lender, the vintage stays in the sentence. October 16, 2026 release. September preliminary. Florida seasonally adjusted unemployment 4.4 percent, 489,000 people, labor force 11,114,000, payrolls 10,045,400. Florida NSA unemployment 4.2 percent. The U.S. seasonally adjusted rate on the table is 4.2 percent in September and 4.1 percent in August. County rates are NSA. The next FloridaCommerce labor-market release is November 20 at 10:00 a.m. The October 27-28 Federal Open Market Committee statement is a later file, and the weekly mortgage survey after October 8 is a later file. This page stops at the labor tables that are already posted.

The through-line

Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in September 2026, down from 4.5 percent in August and up from 4.2 percent in September 2025. Unemployment was 489,000 in a labor force of 11,114,000. Seasonally adjusted payrolls were 10,045,400, up 5,300 on the month and 59,800 over the year. Construction was 657,000, up 3,300 over the year. Real estate, rental, and leasing were 218,900, down 3,000 over the year. Education and health services supplied 40,300 of the yearly job gain. Financial activities lost 15,800.

Not seasonally adjusted, Florida was 4.2 percent, down from 4.6 percent in August. Citrus County and Homosassa Springs were 6.3 percent. Hernando was 5.0 percent. Pasco was 4.7 percent. Hillsborough was 4.3 percent. Pinellas and the St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo division were 4.1 percent. The Tampa division was 4.5 percent, and its workplaces added 15,100 jobs over the year. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater household rate was 4.3 percent. Ocala and Marion were 5.4 percent. Homosassa Springs payrolls fell 200 over the year, to 36,600. The U.S. seasonally adjusted rate on the table is 4.2 percent for September.

Sources: Florida Department of Commerce, Bureau of Workforce Statistics and Economic Research, in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida's September figures, released October 16, 2026, listed on the monthly data releases page as release.pdf dated 10-16-26. The seasonally adjusted labor-force table, the county table, the metro table, the county and metro rank lists, the seasonally adjusted industry table, the not-seasonally-adjusted industry detail, and both nonfarm jobs tables are in that file. The October 2 national Employment Situation is the separate U.S. release. The Bureau of Labor Statistics state employment release for September is scheduled for October 20. October labor-market data are scheduled for November 20, 2026, at 10:00 a.m.

For help reading a Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Hillsborough, or Pinellas property against this labor file, contact Bridge Point Business & Real Estate Advisors at 352-515-0226 or request a consultation.