Miami Beach's jobless rate was 2.4% in August, down from 2.7% a year earlier, as 886 more residents had jobs. Florida's rate rose to 4.6% over the same year.
Miami Beach’s unemployment rate was 2.4% in August, down from 2.7% in August 2025. About 886 more city residents had jobs than a year earlier, and 138 fewer were out of work.
The figures are the preliminary August estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Local Area Unemployment Statistics program, which publishes a separate rate for Miami Beach. The figures are not seasonally adjusted, so the fair comparison is with the same month a year earlier.
The numbers
| Miami Beach residents | August 2025 | August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Labor force | 46,700 | 47,448 |
| Employed | 45,440 | 46,326 |
| Unemployed | 1,260 | 1,122 |
| Unemployment rate | 2.7% | 2.4% |
The BLS counts people by where they live, not where they work. A hotel worker who lives in Miami Gardens counts in Miami Gardens, not Miami Beach. Sources: labor force, employed and unemployed.
Miami Beach against its neighbors
Miami Beach tied with Miami, about five miles west, for the lowest rate among the nearby cities below. Rates fell over the year in every one of them:
| Area | August 2025 | August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Miami Beach | 2.7% | 2.4% |
| Miami, about five miles west | 2.7% | 2.4% |
| North Miami Beach, about eight miles north | 3.0% | 2.7% |
| Aventura, about 10 miles north | 3.0% | 2.7% |
| North Miami, about six miles northwest | 3.5% | 3.1% |
| Miami-Dade County | 3.0% | 2.7% |
The county and its cities moved against the state. Florida’s unemployment rate, on the same unadjusted basis, rose from 4.3% to 4.6%. The national rate for August was 4.3%.
Through the year
Miami Beach’s rate has stayed between 2.1% and 2.8% in 2026. It peaked at 2.8% in April and hit its low of 2.1% in July. The BLS published no October 2025 figure for any area because of the 2025 lapse in federal appropriations.
What it means for you
A 2.4% rate means about one in 40 Miami Beach residents who wanted work could not find it in August. That is well under the state and national rates. The August figures are preliminary, and the BLS will revise them when it publishes September’s estimates next month.
For the cost side of living here, see our home prices page, and for who is opening, our new businesses page.
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