Unemployment rates for the region stayed close to level for the month of February, showing a better economic picture than one year earlier.

According to data released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor and Industry Center for Workforce Information and Analysis, Cameron County’s unemployment remained the highest in the state at 9.3 percent, the same level as it was in January, but considerably better than the prior year.

In February, Cameron County’s unemployment rate was 9.3 percent. While it was an increase from December’s rate of 8.8 percent, it was a more-than-two-percent improvement over the February 2013 rate of 11.8 percent.

Potter County had the next-highest rate in the local area, with an 8.3 percent seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February, the same as in January. It was a slight increase over December’s rate, but a two-percent improvement over the rate in February 2013, which was 10.3 percent. Potter County was ranked 64th in the state, tied with Philadelphia and Huntingdon counties, for its unemployment rate.

McKean County saw a small decrease in unemployment in February, with a rate of 6.4 percent, down from 6.5 percent one month earlier. It, too, was a big improvement over a year ago, as the February 2013 rate was 7.9 percent. Six counties tied with McKean County’s rate in February 2014, all ranked at 37th place in the state — Armstrong, Erie, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer and Mifflin.

Elk County’s rate declined as well, from 5.8 percent in January to 5.5 percent in February. One year earlier, the rate was 7 percent. For the month of February 2014, Elk County was ranked 15th in the state, tied with Dauphin County.

The Center also released data on the job distribution per county — the estimated number of unemployed to the number of advertised online job openings. Cameron County had 3.64 unemployed people per job opening; Potter County had 3.57; McKean had 2.33; and Elk had 2.1.

Data showed 50 people in Cameron County filed initial claims for unemployment in February, while 380 continued weeks were filed for; in Elk, there were 260 initial claims and 2,000 continued weeks; in McKean, there were 270 initial claims and 2,620 continued weeks; and in Potter, 170 initial claims and 1,370 continued weeks.