Northeast Florida Unemployment Fell in September: Duval at 4.5%, St. Johns 4.4%, Clay 4.5%, Nassau 4.3%

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Unemployment fell across all four Northeast Florida counties in September 2026, with Duval and Clay at 4.5%, St. Johns at 4.4% and Nassau at 4.3%. Each county recorded a lower unemployment rate than in August, although all four rates remained higher than in September 2025. The Jacksonville metropolitan area's unemployment rate also declined to 4.5%, according to FloridaCommerce figures released Oct. 16.

The September report showed fewer unemployed residents across the region compared with August, while the metropolitan area's total employment remained below its level a year earlier. Jacksonville's metro unemployment rate decreased three-tenths of a percentage point from August but stood one-tenth of a point above September 2025. The figures are preliminary for September, while FloridaCommerce revised its August numbers.

Unemployment fell in all four counties

Duval County's unemployment rate dropped from 4.9% in August to 4.5% in September, the largest monthly decline among the four counties. St. Johns and Nassau each recorded declines of 0.3 percentage points, while Clay declined 0.2 points. Despite those monthly improvements, none of the four counties had returned to its September 2025 unemployment rate.

Source: FloridaCommerce. All county and metropolitan unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. Changes are measured in percentage points.

St. Johns County recorded the largest year-over-year increase in its unemployment rate, rising from 4.2% to 4.4%. Duval, Clay and Nassau each posted increases of 0.1 percentage points from September 2025. Nassau maintained the lowest September unemployment rate among the four counties at 4.3%.

Duval had 23,322 unemployed residents

Duval County reported a labor force of 519,425 people in September, including 496,103 employed residents and 23,322 unemployed residents. In August, its labor force totaled 518,699, with 493,536 employed and 25,163 unemployed. The number of unemployed Duval residents therefore declined by 1,841 during September.

Duval's September unemployment count remained above the 22,929 reported a year earlier, even as its labor force declined from 521,729 in September 2025. The county recorded 498,800 employed residents that month, compared with 496,103 in September 2026. That represents a year-over-year reduction of 2,697 employed residents.

St. Johns, Clay and Nassau also improved

St. Johns County reported 6,896 unemployed residents in September, down from 7,382 in August. Its employed population increased from 150,140 to 150,824, while its labor force rose from 157,522 to 157,720. Compared with September 2025, however, the county had fewer employed residents and more unemployed residents.

Clay County reported 5,052 unemployed residents, compared with 5,365 in August and 4,985 in September 2025. Its September labor force totaled 113,386, including 108,334 employed residents. A year earlier, Clay counted 108,854 employed residents within a labor force of 113,839.

Nassau County's unemployment count declined from 2,147 in August to 2,040 in September. The county reported 45,127 employed residents and a labor force of 47,167. In September 2025, Nassau had 1,975 unemployed residents and 45,362 employed residents within a labor force of 47,337.

Jacksonville metro had 2,801 fewer unemployed residents

The Jacksonville metropolitan area recorded 37,857 unemployed residents in September, compared with 40,658 in August. That represents a decrease of 2,801 unemployed residents in one month, based on Jax Times calculations using FloridaCommerce figures. The region's labor force increased from 848,499 to 849,858 during the same period.

The metropolitan area reported 812,001 employed residents in September, an increase from 807,841 in August. Compared with September 2025, however, employment declined by 4,389 from 816,390. The region's labor force also decreased by 3,679 from its year-earlier level of 853,537.

The number of unemployed metro residents remained 710 higher than the 37,147 recorded in September 2025. Those figures show that the monthly reduction in unemployment did not eliminate the year-over-year difference. The metropolitan area's September unemployment rate stood at 4.5%, compared with 4.4% a year earlier.

Jacksonville added 2,400 jobs over the year

Jacksonville's metropolitan area reported 802,800 nonfarm payroll jobs in September on a not-seasonally-adjusted basis. That was 1,600 fewer than August's 804,400 jobs, a decline of 0.2%. Compared with September 2025, when the region had 800,400 jobs, the September total represented an increase of 2,400 jobs, or 0.3%.

Seasonally adjusted figures showed 805,200 metro nonfarm jobs in September, compared with 806,700 in August. That represented a monthly decrease of 1,500 jobs, also 0.2%. The seasonally adjusted total remained 3,500 jobs, or 0.4%, above the September 2025 level of 801,700.

The employment and unemployment figures measure residents in the labor force, while the nonfarm jobs figures measure payroll employment. The two sets of figures therefore describe different aspects of the labor market. Both showed monthly changes in September, while their year-over-year comparisons differed.

Northeast Florida remained above state and U.S. rates

Florida's not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.2% in September, compared with 4.6% in August. The statewide rate matched its September 2025 level of 4.2%. All four Northeast Florida counties and the Jacksonville metropolitan area recorded September rates above that statewide comparison.

The United States had a not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate of 4.0% in September, down from 4.3% in August and 4.3% in September 2025. Every Northeast Florida county and the Jacksonville metro also exceeded that national rate. These comparisons use not-seasonally-adjusted figures consistently across the county, metro, state and national levels.

Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.4% in September, compared with 4.5% in August and 4.2% a year earlier. Statewide, approximately 489,000 people were unemployed within a labor force of 11,114,000. Florida also reported 10,045,400 seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs, an increase of 5,300 over August and 59,800, or 0.6%, over the year.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.2% in September, up from 4.1% in August but below the September 2025 rate of 4.4%. The seasonally adjusted rates differ from the unadjusted figures used for direct county comparisons. Within Florida, Miami-Dade County recorded the lowest unadjusted September unemployment rate at 1.9%, while Taylor County had the highest at 7.7%.

Next unemployment report arrives Nov. 20

FloridaCommerce is scheduled to release October 2026 labor market figures on Nov. 20 at 10 a.m. The upcoming report will provide the next monthly comparison for Northeast Florida's counties and the Jacksonville metropolitan area. September's county and metro figures remain preliminary, with August's figures revised in the current release.

## How we did this Jax Times used FloridaCommerce's monthly report, "Florida's September Figures Released," issued Oct. 16, 2026, and retrieved Oct. 28, along with figures published through FloridaCommerce and its labor market information resources. We compared September 2026 unemployment rates with revised August 2026 figures and September 2025 figures, calculated percentage-point changes, and used not-seasonally-adjusted data for direct comparisons between counties, the Jacksonville metro, Florida and the United States. We also cross-checked available August county and metropolitan unemployment rates against the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics API, which had not yet posted September county figures, and used the Bureau of Labor Statistics national series LNS14000000 to confirm the seasonally adjusted U.S. unemployment rates, including August's 4.1%.