Evanston’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent in February, down from 5.2 percent in the same month last year.

The February unemployment rate was lower than that of the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin-IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to a release from the Economic Development Division. Evanston also had a lower rate than the state of Illinois, 5.5 percent, and the U.S. as a whole, 4.9 percent.

“These latest numbers show that our economic and workforce development efforts are paying off,” Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl said in a news release. “Eighty-six new businesses opened their doors in Evanston in 2016, while workforce development partnerships provided residents with valuable career training and employment opportunities. That’s great news for the whole community.”

Of the 86 new businesses that opened last year — a significant uptick over the past two years — 41 percent were classified as food establishments, according to the Economic Development Division’s annual report released March 13.

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