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Employment in 10 largest counties

March 29, 2013

Employment in the nation's 10 largest counties ranged from almost 1.0 million in Miami-Dade, Florida, to almost 4.0 million in Los Angeles, California, in September 2012. All of the 10 largest counties had percentage increases in employment from September 2011 to September 2012. Harris, Texas (part of the Houston metropolitan area), had the largest gain (3.8 percent). Within Harris, among private industry groups, professional and business services had the largest over-the-year employment increase; a gain of 19,152 jobs (5.6 percent) resulting in employment of 360,700. Cook, Illinois (part of the Chicago metropolitan area), had the smallest percentage increase in employment (1.0 percent) among the 10 largest counties.

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Chart Data

Employment by industry, 10 largest U.S. counties, third quarter 2012(p)
Industry	Los Angeles, CA	Cook, IL	New York, NY	Harris, TX	Maricopa, AZ	Dallas, TX	Orange, CA	San Diego, CA	King, WA	Miami-Dade, FL
Natural resources and mining	9,600	900	200	89,400	6,800	10,000	3,000	10,400	3,000	7,500
Construction	110,300	65,400	32,000	142,200	89,100	70,800	73,600	57,300	51,500	30,800
Manufacturing	366,300	194,300	26,600	191,100	113,600	112,400	158,200	93,900	104,300	35,600
Trade, transportation, and utilities	754,300	441,800	250,700	442,000	339,100	295,300	246,300	206,000	215,400	254,900
Information	190,400	53,700	143,500	27,900	28,000	46,800	23,900	24,600	81,000	17,200
Financial activities	211,100	184,200	351,900	114,100	142,400	143,100	108,800	70,300	63,600	67,500
Professional and business services	573,700	430,700	488,700	360,700	273,000	287,500	258,400	216,700	192,600	126,900
Education and health services	529,500	411,200	305,400	253,900	248,200	174,000	162,200	155,600	137,300	157,900
Leisure and hospitality	419,100	246,400	251,600	193,600	176,100	134,200	184,200	164,700	116,600	117,900
Other services	274,200	96,100	92,200	63,100	46,000	40,000	51,600	63,500	53,300	34,700
Government	525,900	296,500	434,700	249,300	208,000	163,700	131,000	214,800	153,200	138,400
Footnotes: (p) Preliminary.

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Nine of the 10 largest U.S. counties had over-the-year decreases in average weekly wages. Maricopa, Arizona (part of the Phoenix metropolitan area), experienced the largest decline in average weekly wages (−2.1 percent). Education and health services had the largest impact on Maricopa county’s average weekly wage decline. Within this industry, employment grew by 5,374 (2.2 percent) to 248,200, while total wages paid to those workers decreased (−2.1 percent).

King, Washington (part of the Seattle metropolitan area), had the only average weekly wage increase (2.3 percent) among the 10 largest counties.

These data are from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program. To learn more, see "County Employment and Wages: Third Quarter 2012" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-13-0542. Data for the most recent quarter are preliminary and subject to revision.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employment in 10 largest counties at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20130329.htm (visited January 24, 2025).

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