On April 18, 2025, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the 2024 annual Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) for all counties across the United States. While this new data does not affect the designation of rural areas, the updated national unemployment rate has redefined the threshold for qualifying as a high unemployment area (HUA) for census tracts nationwide.
This data analysis provides insights into the impact of the new LAUS 2024 data on the EB-5 high unemployment areas (HUAs, also known as urban Targeted Employment Areas or urban TEAs). Following the new data release, IIUSA has updated its online EB-5 TEA Mapping Tool (https://iiusa.org/eb5_tea_mapping_tool) to reflect the latest 2024 LAUS annual data.
National Unemployment Rate Trend
According to the 2024 annual LAUS data, the national unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points from the previous year, reaching 4.0% in 2024. As a result, the threshold for a census tract (or a group of contiguous tracts) to qualify as a HUA has increased to 6.0%. Figure 1 below visualizes a year-over-year trends of national average unemployment rates based on American Community Survey (ACS) data and BLS’ LAUS data:
High Unemployment Areas Across the Country
Using the census-share methodology and the latest LAUS 2024 annual data, more than 39,700 census tracts across the 50 states and the District of Columbia qualify as HUAs, representing approximately 47% of all census tracts nationwide (excluding U.S. territories). This marks an increase of 275 census tracts compared to the previous year, based on the LAUS 2023 annual data.
Table 1 below provides a summary of HUA census tracts under the LAUS 2024 data, alongside a comparison with the 2023 LAUS data.
Urban TEA Changes by State
The release of the 2024 LAUS annual data by the BLS has led to shifts in the distribution of urban TEAs nationwide. Rhode Island saw the largest percentage increase in HUA census tracts, with over 56% of the state’s tracts now qualifying, an increase of 28 percentage points from the 2023 LAUS data. Other states experiencing the biggest percentage increases of urban TEAs include Colorado, South Carolina, Kansas, Maryland, and Indiana. Figure 2 provides a list of states with biggest percentage increases in HUAs.
Additionally, the 2024 LAUS release provides data by the new county-equivalent divisions for Connecticut, reflecting the state’s formal adoption of “planning regions” in 2022. As a result, the census-share methodology can now be applied to census tracts in Connecticut for urban TEA qualification purposes.
In contrast, several states (such as Arizona, Delaware, Mississippi, New York, and Wisconsin) showed the most significant decreases in the percentage of census tracts qualified as HUAs under the latest data (see Figure 3).
IIUSA EB-5 TEA Mapping Tool
IIUSA’s EB-5 TEA Mapping Tool (https://iiusa.org/eb5_tea_mapping_tool) has been updated with the latest unemployment data from both ACS and LAUS, incorporating the 2019–2023 ACS 5-year estimates as well as the latest 2024 LAUS annual data.
Among its many features, the free EB-5 TEA Mapping Tool allows users to:
- Search any location in the U.S. to determine TEA qualification.
- Explore all TEA opportunities within a specific area (city, county, MSA, or state).
- Identify whether a location qualifies as a single-tract high unemployment area, multi-tract high unemployment area, or rural area.
- Access the latest ACS and LAUS employment statistics for any census tract.
Thank You to Our TEA Mapping Tool Sponsor:
