Logan makes number 10 on The Cities Where Everyone Has a Job

While the U.S. unemployment rate has improved markedly from the double digits during the recession, it was still stuck at 7.9% as of October. Some regions fare far better than rest of the country, despite the fact that more than 12 million people are still considered unemployed in the U.S. 24/7 Wall St. looked at the 10 metropolitan areas in the U.S. where unemployment barely exists.

Higher education and industries that support it are the reason these metropolitan areas are doing well. College towns across America tend to have lower unemployment rates than the population as a whole, Martin Kohli, Chief Regional Economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, explained in an interview. Universities often provide relatively stable jobs compared to employment in cyclical industries such as construction. The University of Iowa is located in Iowa City, Iowa State University is located in Ames, and the University of Nebraska is located in Lincoln —all three metro areas are on our list.

24/7 Wall St. identified the ten metropolitan areas with the lowest unemployment rates as of October, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. State and local median household income was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau. Data on the biggest industries was also obtained from the BLS.

10. Logan, Utah-Idaho

• Oct. 2012 unemployment rate: 3.8% (tied for 9th)
• Total population:124,813
• Median household income: $46,356

While the October unemployment rate was less than half of the national rate of 7.9%, the metropolitan area is not affluent. In fact, the 2011 median household income in the area was much lower than the national median of $50,502 and the state median of $55,869. Only 2% of families in the Logan made more than $200,000 in 2011, significantly less than the 5.6% of families across the U.S. Utah State University, which employs more than 2,600 people, is located in Logan. Education and training represents just shy of 10% of the total workforce. 24/7 Wall Street