Despite a declining unemployment rate, Fairfax County in August recorded its smallest civilian workforce count in four-and-a-half years, according to new state data.
With 607,418 residents employed and 20,842 seeking jobs, August’s unemployment rate was 3.3%, according to figures reported Sept. 30 by the Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement.
That’s a slight improvement from 3.4% a year before — but the improvement comes with a caveat attached.
With a total of 628,260 people employed or seeking working, Fairfax’s August civilian workforce was its smallest since April 2022, when it included 626,899 people, according to an FFXnow review of state data.
Regional workforce development leaders have voiced concerns about the double-whammy of the pandemic and Trump-era cuts impacting the workforce across the area.
Added to the mix is the high cost of local living, fueled by housing prices, which has caused some local residents to move out of the region in search of a more affordable environment.
Fairfax is not alone. Neighboring Arlington in August also saw its lowest workforce figure in more than four years.
Despite the dip in employed workers, other local jurisdictions also reported year-over-year declines in the unemployment rate in August:
- In Arlington, August’s jobless rate was 2.8%, down from 3.1% a year before
- In Alexandria, the rate of 3% was down from 3.3% a year ago
- In Falls Church, the rate of 3.3% was down from 4%
In Fairfax City, August’s jobless rate of 3.1% was unchanged from a year before, with 13,803 in the civilian workforce and 424 seeking work. Its total labor force was the lowest since December 2023.
In Fairfax County, the jobless rate has been at or above 3% for 15 months, not counting October 2025, when data was not reported during the federal government shutdown.
Before May 2025, the county’s jobless rate had been below 3% for 44 of 45 consecutive months, bottoming out at 1.8% in November 2021 as the comeback from Covid was gathering steam.
Across Northern Virginia, August saw a jobless rate of 3.3%, with just under 1.69 million people employed in the civilian workforce and about 57,300 seeking jobs. A year before, in August 2025, the figures were 1.73 million employed, 60,300 seeking jobs and a resulting unemployment rate of 3.4%.
In the Northern Virginia area, the unemployment rate has hovered between 3.2% and 3.7% over the past year. Until February 2025, the area’s jobless rate had been below 3% for 40 of the previous 41 months.
Across the Washington metropolitan area, August’s jobless rate of 3.8% was down from 4.2% a year before, with 3.44 million employed in the civilian workforce and about 131,000 seeking work.
The D.C. metro area was among 234 of the nation’s 387 metropolitan corridors to have a lower year-over-year jobless rate. Rates were higher in 126 areas and unchanged in 27, according to figures that the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics released Sept. 30.
Among all metro areas, Cleveland had the lowest jobless rate for the month at 1.8%, followed by Bismarck, North Dakota, at 2%. El Centro, California, had the highest rate, at 21.9%, followed by Yuma, Ariz., at 19%.
Among the nation’s 56 metro areas with populations greater than 1 million, Cleveland recorded the lowest jobless rate in August, with Fresno, Calif., the highest at 7.8%.
A total of 230 metro areas had unemployment rates below the U.S. average of 4.3%, with 142 areas above the national rate and 15 equal to it.
Figures represent non seasonally adjusted data. All August 2026 figures are preliminary and subject to revision.
While the D.C. metro area’s employment rate improved from a year before, the region still led the nation in the year-over-year decline in overall employment (off 66,000) and the percentage decline (2%), based on nonfarm payroll figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
