The number of Fairfax County residents counted as unemployed has risen 22% year-over-year and 62.5% since the beginning of the second Trump administration, according to new data.
A total of 23,518 residents were recorded as seeking jobs in February, according to data reported last week by the Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement.
That’s up from 19,315 in February 2025, and up from 14,465 in December 2024, the last full month of the Biden administration.
With 607,294 residents counted as employed in the county’s civilian workforce in February, the month’s non-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 3.7%. That was essentially unchanged from a month earlier, but up from 3% in February 2025.
While year-over-year increases in the amount of joblessness are moderating, some of those no longer counted as jobless may have stopped looking for work; stopped receiving unemployment benefits; or moved out of the county or region as a whole in search of work.
While the year-over-year increase in county joblessness totaled 4,203 people, the decline in those reported as employed totaled 22,116 during the same period.
Fairfax City’s jobless rate of 3.3% was up from 2.8%, with the number of those counted as unemployed rising 18.8% to 473. Among nearby jurisdictions:
- Alexandria’s jobless rate of 3.4% in February was up from 2.9% a year before
- Arlington’s jobless rate of 3.2% was up from 2.8%
- Falls Church’s jobless rate of 4% was up to 3.1%
For the Washington metro area as a whole, total employment declined by 119,000 year-over-year, more than triple any other metro area due in part to a shrinking federal workforce. About 32,000 job losses came among those in Northern Virginia.
The February state data was reported just two weeks after January’s jobs figures posted. Since last fall, there have been reporting lags due to residual impacts from the seven-week shutdown of the federal government.
February 2026 figures are preliminary and subject to revision.
Unemployment higher at national level
Nationally, February jobless rates were higher year-over-year in 236 of 387 metropolitan areas, lower in 110 and unchanged in 41, according to data reported by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The national unemployment rate in February was 4.7%, non seasonally adjusted, up from 4.5% a year earlier.
In February, Honolulu had the lowest unemployment rate among all metro areas at 2.2%. El Centro, California, had the highest rate, at 17.6%.
Honolulu also had the lowest jobless rate among the 56 metro areas with populations of a million or more. Fresno, California, had the highest at 9.1%.
The 119,000 decline in jobs across the Washington region year over year was by far the highest nationally in February, in terms of raw numbers. But on a percentage basis, the 3.5% decline ranked behind Yuma (down 5%) and Sierra Vista (down 4.6%) in Arizona.
