Cook County's jobless rate jumps 1.2 percentage points in a year, reaching 5.9%

Most Illinois counties came out of the summer with lower unemployment than a year earlier. Cook County went the other way (ides.illinois.gov).

In August 2026, 5.9% of the county's labor force was out of work and looking for a job, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates for the county. That was up 1.2 percentage points from 4.7% in August 2025. Across Illinois, jobless rates fell over the year in the large majority of counties and climbed in only a handful (ides.illinois.gov). Cook, home to Chicago, was among the few that rose.

By that measure, the job market in Chicago and its Cook County suburbs is looser than it was a year ago.

This August against the ones before it

Set beside each August since 2018, this year's rate ranks fourth-highest. The pandemic summer still towers over the rest of the series. In August 2020, the rate reached 11.6%.

A more telling comparison may be the years just before the pandemic. The rate was 4.2% in August 2018 and 4% in August 2019. This August's reading sits 1.9 percentage points above that 2019 mark.

More jobs in Chicagoland, more people without one

Across the wider Chicago metro area, payroll jobs still grew over the year (ides.illinois.gov). Yet Chicago was also the only metro area in the state where the unemployment rate went up (ides.illinois.gov). The job count and the jobless rate are separate measures, and this year they pulled in opposite directions.

Illinois as a whole showed some of the same strain. The state counted more unemployed people in August than a year before (ides.illinois.gov), and financial activities was among the industry groups with the largest job losses statewide (ides.illinois.gov).

The state's August release said the report reflected the uncertainty workers and employers face from inconsistent federal trade policies (ides.illinois.gov).

A smaller workforce than a year ago

Cook County's civilian labor force counts people who have a job or are looking for one. It fell 2.6% from August 2025 to August 2026, to 2,707,833. Illinois' labor force also shrank over the year (ides.illinois.gov), though the state figure is seasonally adjusted and not a direct match for the county count.

Put a smaller workforce together with a higher jobless rate and the result is plain. Fewer Cook County residents were working this August than last.

Over the longer stretch, the county's workforce has barely moved. It counted 2,692,625 people in August 2018, and this August's total is 0.6% higher. Measured against August 2019, the gain is 0.1%.

From the lakefront to the county's western edge, then, Cook County's job market holds about as many people as it did before the pandemic. What has changed is how many of them cannot find work.

About the data

We used Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics estimates for Cook County, comparing the August reading for each year from 2018 through 2026 so that seasonal swings would not distort the comparison. We ranked the August unemployment rates from highest to lowest and tracked the civilian labor force against its August 2018 level. Statewide and metro context comes from the Illinois Department of Employment Security's August 2026 releases.

• The August 2026 county figures are preliminary and may be revised, and federal statisticians have recently revised earlier state labor force data.
• County figures are not seasonally adjusted, so they compare cleanly only with the same month in other years, not with seasonally adjusted state figures.
• The data count how many residents were working or looking for work; they cannot identify what pushed the rate up or which jobs were lost in Cook County.

Civilian labor force: working-age residents who have a job or are actively looking for one, excluding the military and people in institutions. Unemployment rate: the share of the civilian labor force without a job and actively looking for work, estimated by where people live rather than where they work. Payroll jobs: a count of jobs on employers' books, a separate measure from the unemployment rate that can move in a different direction.

Sources

• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED): Unemployment Rate in Cook County, IL, latest period August 2026, released Sept. 30, 2026; retrieved Oct. 22, 2026. Data
• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED): Civilian Labor Force in Cook County, IL, latest period August 2026, released Sept. 30, 2026; retrieved Oct. 14, 2026. Data