Chilton County’s unemployment rate declined from August to September but was still no better than a year ago.

Chilton’s jobless rate for September 2011 was 8.8 percent, the same as September 2010. That figure shows some improvement from August (9.5 percent unemployment) and is one of the best in Alabama — only 11 counties have better jobless numbers.

Statewide, unemployment fell only slightly in September, from 9.9 percent the previous month to 9.8 percent.

Those numbers represent 211,079 unemployed workers across the state and 1,702 in Chilton County.

Counties with the lowest unemployment were Shelby at 6.8 percent, Coffee at 7.5 percent and Lee at 7.9 percent. Counties with the highest unemployment were Wilcox at 21.5 percent, Perry at 18.2 percent and Dallas at 18 percent.