Last year, the National Urban League introduced rankings of unemployment and income equality between whites, Blacks and Latinos in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. Comparison of the 2014 and 2015 Metro Unemployment Equality Index rankings reveals that there was quite a bit of shuffling of metros at the top of the list¹. In the Black–White rankings, only three of the cities in last year’s top 10 were also in this year’s top 10. In the Hispanic–White rankings, only four of last year’s top 10 metros remained at the top of this year’s list. On the other hand, many of the metros at the bottom of last year’s rankings remained at the bottom of this year’s rankings as well.

These patterns seem to represent differences in the pace of recovery across the country as metros at the top of the list averaged larger improvements in unemployment rates than those at the bottom of the list.

The tables herein highlight major cities, as well as the most and least equal metropolitan areas and those with highest and lowest unemployment.

  HISPANIC-WHITE

With an index of 148 percent, Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach, FL topped the Hispanic– white metro unemployment rankings this year. Deltona was up from #29 last year due to a large drop in the Hispanic unemployment rate (from 9.4% to 5.8%). In addition to Deltona, there were four other metros with a Hispanic–white unemployment index greater than 100, indicating that the Hispanic unemployment rate was lower than the white unemployment—Indianapolis–Carmel–Anderson, IN, Lakeland–Winter Haven, FL, New Orleans–Metairie, LA and Nashville–Davidson–Murfreesboro Franklin, TN. Last year’s #1—Memphis, TN—fell to #33 this year as the Hispanic unemployment rate more than doubled (from 3.8% to 8.2%).

Since unemployment disparities between Latinos and whites have narrowed more than those between Blacks and whites during the recovery³, lower unemployment rates and greater unemployment equality seemed to be more closely linked. The metro with the lowest Hispanic unemployment rate (5.3%) was Indianapolis–Carmel–Anderson, IN, #2 in the ranking. The metro with the highest Hispanic unemployment rate (20.8%) was Modesto, CA at #59 in the ranking.

NOTES

₁The unemployment and income data used for the Metro Index rankings comes
from the American Community Survey (ACS). The 2015 Metro Index is based on
data from the 2013 ACS (most recent) and the 2014 Metro Index is based on data
from the 2012 ACS.