But the interesting part is the unemployment rate by province. The two worst provinces, with rates just above 20 percent are, Alborz (just to the west of Tehran) and Fars (Shiraz). The two best places and the only ones with unemployment be- low 8 percent are Yazd (7.4 percent) in the center of the country and Mazandaran (7.9 percent) on the Caspian. Tehran comes right in the middle at 12.5 percent. While the numbers are likely far from correct, the relation- ships among provinces are probably reasonable.