CHAMPAIGN -- Champaign County's unemployment rate dropped in February, while most other counties in East Central Illinois saw an increase.

Champaign County's rate fell to 8.3 percent in February, down from 8.4 percent in January, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday.

The unemployment rate for the city of Champaign dropped from 8 percent to 7.7 percent, while Urbana's rate slid from 8.6 percent to 8.3 percent.

An estimated 8,571 Champaign County residents were out of work and looking for a job in February, while 95,168 others were employed.

In Vermilion County, the unemployment rate remained unchanged in February, at 11.2 percent. But Danville's rate dropped slightly, from 10.6 percent to 10.5 percent.

The department said 4,069 people in Vermilion County were jobless and looking for work in February, while 32,163 residents held down jobs.

Here are the February unemployment rates for other area counties and the changes from January:

Coles, 8.7 percent, down from 8.8 percent.

DeWitt, 9.2, up from 8.9.

Douglas, 9.4, up from 9.1.

Edgar, 11, up from 10.9.

Ford, 11.1, up from 10.4.

Iroquois, 10.3, up from 10.2.

McLean, 7.4, down from 7.5.

Moultrie, 7.6, up from 7.5.

Piatt, 8.2, up from 8.1.

Among the state's 12 metropolitan areas, Bloomington-Normal had the lowest rate, 7.4 percent, followed by Springfield at 8.1 percent. Champaign-Urbana tied with the Quad Cities for the third-lowest rate, 8.4 percent. Rockford had the highest rate, 13.6 percent.

In February, the Champaign-Urbana metropolitan area had 2,200 fewer employees in the government sector than it had a year earlier. But it saw slight increases in jobs in information, construction and professional-business services.

The Danville metropolitan area saw slight gains over the year in manufacturing and educational-health services, nearly balanced by job losses in government, retail trade and professional-business services.

Among the state's 102 counties, Brown County in western Illinois had the lowest rate, 5 percent. It was followed by DuPage, 7.1 percent; Adams, 7.3 percent; and McLean and Jackson, tied at 7.4 percent.

The county with the highest unemployment rate by far was Boone in northern Illinois, at 15.7 percent. It was followed by Montgomery, at 13.9 percent; Grundy, 13.5 percent; Calhoun and Ogle, tied at 13.4 percent; Winnebago, 13.2 percent; and Kankakee, 13.1 percent.