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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.

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.
 

 

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 March 14, 2026).