Counties with the highest unemployment in Washington

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 Washington, 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 Washington.

38. Whitman County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.9%
--- 1-month change: -0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 22,235 people (873 unemployed)

38. Asotin County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 10,046 people (388 unemployed)

37. King County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4%
--- 1-month change: +0.9 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,391,803 people (54,997 unemployed)

36. Snohomish County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.2%
--- 1-month change: +1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 470,816 people (19,593 unemployed)

34. Clark County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: -0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 254,349 people (11,553 unemployed)

34. Pierce County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: -1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -1.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 498,967 people (22,653 unemployed)

33. Columbia County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: -0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -1.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,975 people (92 unemployed)

31. Thurston County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.8%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 145,823 people (6,977 unemployed)

31. Kitsap County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.8%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: 0.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 121,822 people (5,831 unemployed)

29. Whatcom County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 110,005 people (5,389 unemployed)

29. Kittitas County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.9%
--- 1-month change: -0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -1.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 27,585 people (1,338 unemployed)

28. Walla Walla County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5%
--- 1-month change: +0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 27,255 people (1,357 unemployed)

26. Island County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.1%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 36,433 people (1,856 unemployed)

26. San Juan County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.1%
--- 1-month change: +0.9 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,705 people (390 unemployed)

25. Spokane County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 259,091 people (13,482 unemployed)

22. Benton County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 101,605 people (5,488 unemployed)

22. Skagit County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 58,103 people (3,116 unemployed)

22. Skamania County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.4%
--- 1-month change: -0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,958 people (320 unemployed)

21. Cowlitz County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 48,110 people (2,666 unemployed)

20. Klickitat County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,133 people (520 unemployed)

17. Garfield County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.8%
--- 1-month change: -0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 806 people (47 unemployed)

17. Mason County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.8%
--- 1-month change: -0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 27,448 people (1,590 unemployed)

17. Chelan County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 5.8%
--- 1-month change: +1.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 39,241 people (2,269 unemployed)

15. Clallam County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6%
--- 1-month change: 0.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 30,443 people (1,816 unemployed)

15. Jefferson County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 12,095 people (730 unemployed)

14. Lewis County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 33,581 people (2,152 unemployed)

12. Franklin County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.6%
--- 1-month change: 0.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 43,892 people (2,876 unemployed)

12. Douglas County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.6%
--- 1-month change: +1.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 19,511 people (1,285 unemployed)

10. Grays Harbor County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.8%
--- 1-month change: -0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.9 percentage points
- Total labor force: 29,020 people (1,969 unemployed)

10. Lincoln County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.8%
--- 1-month change: +1.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,856 people (264 unemployed)

9. Pacific County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 6.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 7,875 people (541 unemployed)

7. Okanogan County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 7.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.9 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 18,076 people (1,304 unemployed)

7. Pend Oreille County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 7.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,033 people (361 unemployed)

6. Wahkiakum County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 7.3%
--- 1-month change: +0.9 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,239 people (91 unemployed)

5. Stevens County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 7.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: 0.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 18,725 people (1,386 unemployed)

4. Yakima County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 7.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: 0.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 118,213 people (9,102 unemployed)

3. Grant County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 8.9%
--- 1-month change: +2.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 38,415 people (3,419 unemployed)

2. Adams County (tie)

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 9%
--- 1-month change: +3.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +2.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 6,853 people (616 unemployed)

1. Ferry County

- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 9.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,363 people (221 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.