Yuma County unemployment hits 11%, highest in Arizona

Yuma County’s unemployment rate jumped to 11% in March, the highest in Arizona and more than double the statewide average of 4.4% for the same period. For households, that gap matters fast: fewer wages hitting grocery stores, rent checks and car payments, and less spending flowing through Yuma’s small businesses just as seasonal hiring should be helping the region.

The March figure came from Arizona’s Local Area Unemployment Statistics system, which measures people, not jobs, and uses the monthly household survey tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It came alongside a statewide picture that was much steadier. Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 4.7% in March from 4.6% in February, while the U.S. rate fell to 4.3%.

Yuma’s problem was not just the headline rate. In the Yuma metropolitan area, non-seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment fell 3.9% from a year earlier in March 2026, a sign that the county’s labor market was weakening even as some measures moved in different directions. The same region showed average hourly earnings of $28.46 in March, or about $59,196 a year for full-time work, which suggests wages were still edging up for the workers who remained employed. Yuma MSA payroll jobs were essentially flat early in 2026 before slipping again in April, when seasonally adjusted employment eased to 60,600 from 60,700 in March.

That mix of falling employment and rising wages reflects a county economy that depends heavily on agriculture and tourism, with public payrolls also playing an outsized role. A University of Arizona county profile says Yuma County is home to two military bases and that government employment makes up more than 20% of county employment, well above the state average. When farm labor softens or travel slows, the impact reaches beyond the fields and hotels to restaurants, retail shops and service businesses that rely on steady local spending.

Agriculture remains especially important. A 2024 University of Arizona Cooperative Extension study found Yuma County agriculture and agribusiness supported $3.9 billion in economic activity in the county in 2022 and $4.4 billion statewide, underscoring how much of the local economy rises and falls with planting, harvest and related supply-chain work. The county also accounted for 0.7% of Arizona’s total population growth from 2019 to 2024 and represented 2.9% of the state’s population in 2024, making Yuma’s labor swings important well beyond the county line.