What was the biggest factor in the employment rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic? A Social Explorer analysis finds that the metros that relied most heavily on tourism and travel recorded the biggest recoveries between 2020 and 2026.
Consider, for example, the Kahului, Hawaii, metro area, the largest place on Maui. The town, which is a major travel hub for the islands, saw its unemployment rate soar to 31.9 percent in May 2020, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) data. But by May 2026, the figure had plunged to 2.5 percent – the 10th-lowest rate in the nation.
The BLS data, which is available on Social Explorer, offer a wealth of information about more than a half-century of annual and monthly seasonally unadjusted and adjusted employment statistics at state levels from 1976 to the present, and regional, division, county, place, and metro levels from 1990 to the present.
Atlantic City, N.J. (30.2 percent unemployment to 5.5 percent), and Las Vegas (28.7 percent unemployment to 5.3 percent) also have enjoyed relatively spectacular rebounds. The two metros, however, still have elevated unemployment rates compared to the rest of the country; Atlantic City has the 28th-highest, while Las Vegas has the 38th-highest.
Honolulu, another major travel and tourism destination, posted the 18th-highest unemployment rate in May 2020, with 18.1 percent of its labor force out of work. By May 2026, however, the Hawaiian capital reported that its jobless rate had fallen to 2.4 percent, giving it the eighth-lowest jobless rate in the nation.
Although most attention to unemployment rates centers around the economic and emotional turmoil for people who are out of work, the figures are also vital for tourism-dependent communities. City officials and planners use unemployment data to adjust land use and zoning, manage infrastructure and public transit development, estimate capital and operating budgets (which are generally lower during periods of high unemployment), and consider policies to mitigate longer-term effects, such as a decline in affordable housing and potential gentrification.
Mountain West Metros Reported Smaller Post-COVID Rebounds
Metros that are less dependent on tourism have posted smaller rebounds, especially those areas in the Mountain West where pre-COVID unemployment rates were among the lowest in the nation. According to the BLS data, the Logan, Utah, metro had the smallest change in the unemployment rate between May 2020 to May 2026. The northern Utah city, home to Utah State University, reported an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent in May 2020; it only fell to 3 percent in May 2026.
As millions of Americans were shut out of workplaces due to COVID lockdowns, Logan had the lowest unemployment rate in the nation in May 2020. Even with the decline, however, it now ranks 48th – a sign that a significant number of the 387 metros examined by Social Explorer have bounced back strongly from extremely high jobless rates. The following set of maps of unemployment rates from 2020 and 2026 enable more comparisons. Zoom in on different metropolitan statistical areas to see how cities have fared.
Likewise, the Provo, Utah, metro area unemployment rate fell only slightly between May 2020 and May 2026. It reported an unemployment rate of 5.7 percent in May 2020; it’s since fallen to 3.5 percent. Although Provo had the second-lowest unemployment rate in 2020, it now has the 122nd-lowest rate.
The Utah metros benefited from a young workforce and diversified economy, which expanded before the pandemic into growing fields such as tech and financial services. Meanwhile, the lowest unemployment rate in the nation in May 2026 was the Bismarck, N.D. metro, which reported that only 1.8 percent of the labor force was without a job. The metro has demonstrated more consistently stable employment than most other areas, benefiting from an oil and gas fracking boom in the western part of the state. Even in the depths of the pandemic, Bismarck’s unemployment rate of 6.5 percent gave it the fifth-lowest joblessness figure in the U.S.
While unemployment across all 387 metros has rebounded from the pandemic peak, it remains stubbornly high (if improving) in California. El Centro posted an unemployment rate of 16.9 percent in May 2026. The figure was the highest rate of joblessness in the nation, but still marks an improvement over the 28.2 percent rate recorded in May 2020.
Yuma, Ariz. (16 percent unemployment in May 2026, down from 22.5 percent); Eagle Pass, Texas (8.6 percent, down from 19.8 percent); and The Villages, Fla. (7.6 percent, down from 14.7 percent) were the only metros in the top 10 outside of California. Unemployment in May 2026 remained among the highest in the nation in Visalia (9.5 percent, down from 16.5 percent in 2020), and Merced (8.8 percent, down from 15.8 percent) rounded out the five metros with the largest percentage of unemployed people.
Examine More Employment and Related Data with Social Explorer:
Social Explorer’s data library and tools offer more ways to research employment shifts and related factors. Examine more dimensions of employment shifts with the following datasets available from Social Explorer:
U.S. Census Bureau, Quarterly Workforce Indicators
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics
U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Social Vulnerability Index
Texas A&M Transportation Institute, Urban Mobility Report
Subscribers can get started with these and more datasets right now. New to Social Explorer? Sign up for a free Social Explorer account to try it out today.