Prost! Celebrating Oktoberfest with a look at brewery employment

Oktoberfest is a 16-day folk festival ending in the first weekend of October; revelers enjoy traditional Bavarian food, games, and plenty of beer. Originating in Munich, Germany, the good times are now shared worldwide. Today we celebrate the world's largest beer festival by taking a look at employment in breweries in each state.

Some states have a higher concentration of employment in breweries than others. We measure this concentration with the location quotient. A location quotient greater than 1 means the state has a higher share of employment than the national average.

In March 2015, Colorado had the highest concentration of employment in breweries—more than 5 times the national average. In Colorado, 149 establishments employed 4,398 people. Montana had the second-highest concentration, with a location quotient of 3.6.

California had the most establishments at 211, employing 5,980 people.

These data are from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program. For more location quotient and employment data, visit the QCEW data retrieval tool.