Counties with the highest unemployment in Indiana

The first jobs report fully under the new Trump administration showed a softening job market, with the unemployment rate ticking up to 4.1% in February, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released March 7.

Job growth increased but fell below expectations, one of several possible fissures appearing in the once rock-solid labor market. Businesses are pulling back on hiring as the economic forecast and policy outlook grow murkier due to volatile trade policies and large cuts to the federal workforce.

Federal government employment fell by 10,000 in February, pushing up total cuts to the federal workforce. In the first two months of 2025, 62,530 federal workers were let go. However, the most recent cuts, including the Department of Education's workforce getting slashed by nearly half, have not yet appeared in official jobs data. Retail employment also fell by 6,000.

The broader unemployment index, known as the U-6, which also includes laborers working part-time because they can't find full-time work, and those who want to work but have given up searching, rose to 8%, its highest since October 2021.

To get a glimpse of regional variations in employment, Stacker compiled a list of counties with the highest unemployment rates in Indiana, using BLS data. Counties are ranked by their preliminary unemployment rate in January 2025, with initial ties broken by the number of unemployed people within that county, though some ties may remain. County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.

Key takeaways: Jobs report shows softening labor market

February's job growth of 151,000 fell below economists' expected gains of 160,000, showing the labor market is cooling faster than predicted. Experts say many companies weighing policy changes and economic uncertainty are deciding it's safer to hold off on hiring decisions for now.

"If you were a company and you were saying, 'I'm looking to expand, or I'm looking to hire,' you would have investors in those companies saying, 'Are you crazy?'" Ron Hetrick, senior labor economist at Lightcast, told Marketplace.

Consumer spending fell in January for the first time in two years, which may have led to layoffs or hiring slowdowns, Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist, told NBC News.

The big story: From bold promises to frozen labor market

After an initial market pop following Trump's electoral win, indexes have slumped to below when he took office, and uncertainty about the future of the markets is a common theme. Are threatened tariffs in place, delayed, reversed, or ramped up? Has that federal worker been fired or given their job back? Are those federal dollars slashed or reinstated? It's a question mark that changes daily.

Research shows that uncertainty invites lower investment, slows employment, and increases financial market volatility. The word "uncertain" showed up 47 times in the March edition of the Beige Book, the Federal Reserve's snapshot of reports from across the nation, compared to 17 times in the previous report from January.

The new administration's blitz of executive orders and trade policy waffling have cast a dense fog over the short-term economic outlook. One thing that is known? Uncertainty isn't good for business planning, job creation, or hiring.

In a March 12 interview with Semafor, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon noted that average consumers likely don't change "what they're going to do because they read about tariffs," but "companies might."

"Uncertainty is not a good thing," Dimon added.

To get a better idea of your community's current economy, read on to see the counties with the highest unemployment in Indiana.

49. Perry County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 8,433 people (373 unemployed)

49. Noble County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 22,079 people (967 unemployed)

41. Marion County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 516,053 people (22,997 unemployed)

41. Sullivan County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: -0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,251 people (418 unemployed)

41. Bartholomew County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 39,958 people (1,814 unemployed)

41. Spencer County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,712 people (440 unemployed)

41. Kosciusko County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 39,551 people (1,798 unemployed)

41. Morgan County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 37,688 people (1,703 unemployed)

41. Wabash County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 14,645 people (666 unemployed)

41. Washington County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 14,213 people (644 unemployed)

37. Putnam County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.9 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 16,784 people (773 unemployed)

37. Tipton County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,964 people (367 unemployed)

37. Clay County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 12,359 people (568 unemployed)

37. Carroll County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 10,981 people (500 unemployed)

31. Fountain County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 8,208 people (387 unemployed)

31. Brown County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,941 people (377 unemployed)

31. Vigo County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: 0.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 49,682 people (2,342 unemployed)

31. Pike County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,532 people (261 unemployed)

31. Wayne County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 31,145 people (1,472 unemployed)

31. Elkhart County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 98,471 people (4,625 unemployed)

28. Henry County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.8%
--- 1-month change: +1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 22,271 people (1,064 unemployed)

28. Decatur County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.8%
--- 1-month change: +1.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 13,354 people (639 unemployed)

28. Fayette County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.8%
--- 1-month change: -1.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 10,557 people (510 unemployed)

24. Randolph County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 11,964 people (583 unemployed)

24. Delaware County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 54,011 people (2,656 unemployed)

24. Madison County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 64,869 people (3,153 unemployed)

24. St. Joseph County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 131,398 people (6,410 unemployed)

18. Parke County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5%
--- 1-month change: +1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 6,824 people (342 unemployed)

18. White County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5%
--- 1-month change: +1.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 11,132 people (556 unemployed)

18. Lawrence County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 21,835 people (1,095 unemployed)

18. Owen County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 10,859 people (548 unemployed)

18. Orange County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,622 people (478 unemployed)

18. Porter County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 88,583 people (4,402 unemployed)

17. Switzerland County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.1%
--- 1-month change: +0.9 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,017 people (203 unemployed)

16. Grant County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 30,121 people (1,555 unemployed)

10. LaPorte County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: 0.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 52,149 people (2,742 unemployed)

10. Newton County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: 0.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 6,713 people (355 unemployed)

10. Jennings County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 15,240 people (802 unemployed)

10. Scott County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 10,572 people (563 unemployed)

10. Vermillion County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,176 people (378 unemployed)

10. Fulton County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,449 people (501 unemployed)

8. Jasper County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 16,863 people (909 unemployed)

8. Greene County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 14,638 people (784 unemployed)

6. Lake County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.6%
--- 1-month change: -0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 239,893 people (13,457 unemployed)

6. Blackford County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,081 people (286 unemployed)

4. Cass County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 18,484 people (1,048 unemployed)

4. Miami County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 16,097 people (920 unemployed)

3. Crawford County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.2%
--- 1-month change: +1.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,525 people (281 unemployed)

2. Starke County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.9%
--- 1-month change: +1.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,487 people (653 unemployed)

1. Howard County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 7.5%
--- 1-month change: -0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 37,088 people (2,773 unemployed)

This story features data reporting by Karim Noorani, writing by Ben Popken, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 50 states.