Unemployment rate
4.4%
-0.4 pp vs Aug
-1.1 pp vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro)
Los Angeles metro economy by the numbers
The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area is shown here through Los Angeles County and Orange County: Los Angeles, Long Beach, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, Glendale, Pasadena and Torrance. These are the official monthly and quarterly numbers for the metro's jobs, housing, wages and prices, each one dated and linked to its source, updated the day the agency publishes.
Unemployment rate
4.4%
Sep 2026 · -1.1 pp from a year earlier
Next metro jobs releaseDec 2, 202610:00 ETFull calendar →
Unemployment
4.4%
Sep 2026 · -1.1 pp y/y
Payrolls y/y
0.5%
Sep 2026 · +0.7 pp y/y
House prices y/y
1.2%
Q2 2026 · -2.0 pp y/y
Listing price
$1,034,500
Sep 2026 · -5.9% y/y
Weekly wages
$1,673
Q1 2026 · +2.0% y/y
CPI y/y
3.8%
Sep 2026 · +0.5 pp y/y
Jobs
Civilian labor force
6,646,903
+0.9% vs Aug
-1.8% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro)
Nonfarm payroll employment
6,299.9K
-0.1% vs Aug
+0.5% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · seasonally adjusted · BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro)
Payroll employment, year over year
0.5%
+0.2 pp vs Aug
+0.7 pp vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · seasonally adjusted · BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro)
Housing
Housing units authorized by building permits
1,986
-47.1% vs Aug
-7.3% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (metro)
FHFA house price index (all transactions), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale division
557.4
-0.3% vs Q1
+1.2% vs Q2 2025
Q2 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan division)
House prices, year over year
1.2%
-1.3 pp vs Q1
-2.0 pp vs Q2 2025
Q2 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan division)
Median listing price
$1,034,500
-1.5% vs Aug
-5.9% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro)
Active listings
20,130
-0.0% vs Aug
+4.2% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro)
Median days on market
55
+3.8% vs Aug
-3.5% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro)
Wages
Average weekly wages, all covered employment
$1,673
+0.2% vs Q4
+2.0% vs Q1 2025
Q1 2026 · seasonally adjusted · BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (metro)
Prices
Consumer prices, West region, year over year
3.8%
+0.3 pp vs Aug
+0.5 pp vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · BLS Consumer Price Index, West region, all items
Unemployment by county
| County | Rate | Year ago | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County | 4.5% | 5.9% | -1.4 pp |
| Orange County | 4.3% | 4.4% | -0.1 pp |
Sep 2026, not seasonally adjusted. Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics.
Why Los Angeles
Los Angeles and Orange counties form the second-largest metro economy in the United States: trade through the ports, entertainment, aerospace and the highest house prices of any metro on this site. FHFA publishes house prices by division; the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale division is shown. The West region CPI stands in for prices; the BLS Los Angeles index is monthly and will replace it.
Questions readers ask
- What is the unemployment rate in Los Angeles?
- The Los Angeles metro unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Local Area Unemployment Statistics figure for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan statistical area, not seasonally adjusted, published about six weeks after the month ends. The headline at the top of this page is the latest print; the county table shows how Los Angeles County and Orange County compare.
- How many jobs does the Los Angeles metro have?
- Nonfarm payroll employment counts jobs on employer payrolls in the metro, in thousands, seasonally adjusted, from the BLS Current Employment Statistics survey. The year-over-year line shows whether hiring is accelerating or slowing; it is the cleanest single read on the local labor market.
- Are Los Angeles home prices going up or down?
- Two measures are shown. The FHFA house price index tracks repeat sales of the same homes each quarter, so it measures price change rather than the mix of what sold. The Realtor.com median listing price is the monthly asking price of homes on the market; with active listings and days on market it shows how the market feels to a buyer today.
- Where do these numbers come from?
- Every series is a public federal statistic (BLS, Census Bureau, FHFA) or Realtor.com's monthly housing inventory, retrieved from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database. Each figure links to its source series. MarketIntelLabs computes the year-over-year changes and writes the fact sheet; nothing on this page is estimated or modelled.
Fact sheet
Every figure above, as one dated sentence each. This is the text our desk writes from; a local newsroom may quote it with attribution to the source named in each line.
- Los Angeles metro unemployment rate: 4.4% in September 2026, down 1.1 percentage points from 5.5% in September 2025; prior reading 4.8% (August 2026). Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro civilian labor force: 6,646,903 in September 2026, down 1.8% from 6,768,502 in September 2025; prior reading 6,589,304 (August 2026). Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro nonfarm payroll employment: 6,299.9 thousand in September 2026, up 0.5% from 6,271.3 thousand in September 2025; prior reading 6,305.8 thousand (August 2026). Source: BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro), via FRED; seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro payroll employment, year over year: 0.5% in September 2026, up 0.7 percentage points from -0.3% in September 2025; prior reading 0.3% (August 2026). Source: BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro), via FRED; year-over-year change computed by MarketIntelLabs; seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro housing units authorized by building permits: 1,986 in September 2026, down 7.3% from 2,142 in September 2025; prior reading 3,752 (August 2026). Source: Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro FHFA house price index (all transactions), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale division: 557.4 in Q2 2026, up 1.2% from 550.8 in Q2 2025; prior reading 558.9 (Q1 2026). Source: FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan division), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro house prices, year over year: 1.2% in Q2 2026, down 2.0 percentage points from 3.2% in Q2 2025; prior reading 2.5% (Q1 2026). Source: FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan division), via FRED; year-over-year change computed by MarketIntelLabs; not seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro median listing price: $1,034,500 in September 2026, down 5.9% from $1,099,000 in September 2025; prior reading $1,050,000 (August 2026). Source: Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro active listings: 20,130 in September 2026, up 4.2% from 19,323 in September 2025; prior reading 20,134 (August 2026). Source: Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro median days on market: 55 in September 2026, down 3.5% from 57 in September 2025; prior reading 53 (August 2026). Source: Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro average weekly wages, all covered employment: $1,673 in Q1 2026, up 2.0% from $1,640 in Q1 2025; prior reading $1,670 (Q4 2025). Source: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (metro), via FRED; seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles metro consumer prices, West region, year over year: 3.8% in September 2026, up 0.5 percentage points from 3.3% in September 2025; prior reading 3.5% (August 2026). Source: BLS Consumer Price Index, West region, all items, via FRED; year-over-year change computed by MarketIntelLabs; not seasonally adjusted.
- Los Angeles County unemployment rate: 4.5% in September 2026, down 1.4 percentage points from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
- Orange County unemployment rate: 4.3% in September 2026, down 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
Fact sheet id 4da3f293d063 · data through Sep 2026
Sources: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro); BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro); Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (metro); FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan division); Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro); BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (metro); BLS Consumer Price Index, West region, all items. Official statistics retrieved from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database; MarketIntelLabs computes the changes shown. Nothing on this page is estimated.
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