CHAMPAIGN — Champaign County was the only East Central Illinois county where the unemployment rate didn't rise in December, according to the state Department of Employment Security.

Champaign County's rate was 7.8 percent, unchanged from November, while Vermilion County's rate increased to 10.3 percent, up from 9.9 percent in November.

Nine other counties in the area also saw increases. Here are the December rates for those counties, along with the changes from November:

— Coles, 8.3, up from 8.2.

— DeWitt, 8.1, up from 7.8.

— Douglas, 8.2, up from 7.9.

— Edgar, 10.1, up from 9.4.

— Ford, 9.3, up from 8.1.

— Iroquois, 9.2, up from 8.2.

— McLean, 7, up from 6.8.

— Moultrie, 7, up from 6.9.

— Piatt, 8.1, up from 7.4.

Among area cities, both Champaign and Urbana had declines in their unemployment rates in December. Champaign's rate was 7.6 percent, down from 7.8 percent in November, while Urbana's rate was 8.2 percent, down from 8.5 percent.

Danville, however, saw its rate rise from 10.9 percent to 11.1 percent.

The statewide unemployment rate dropped from 9.4 percent to 9.3 percent in December, even though unemployment rates for most of the state's metropolitan statistical areas went up.

The only one to go down was Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, where the rate fell from 9.6 percent to 9.3 percent.

Among Illinois counties, Brown County in western Illinois had the lowest unemployment rate, 4.5 percent, while Boone County in northern Illinois had the highest, 14 percent.

In Champaign County, 8,062 people were out of work and looking for a job in December, while 94,715 were employed, the department said.

In Vermilion County, 3,736 people were jobless and seeking work, while 32,508 people were employed.