Employment declined in 11 of the 19 largest counties in Pennsylvania from March 2025 to March 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Pennsylvania employment decreased 0.1 percent over the year to 6,002,100 in March 2026, as measured by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program. (See table 1.) Regional Commissioner Lori Keller noted that Bucks County (-1.3 percent) had the largest over-the-year decrease in employment. (See chart 1.)

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in covered employment among the largest counties in Pennsylvania, March 2026

County	Percent change, March 2026
Bucks	-1.3
Delaware	-1.0
Berks	-0.5
Dauphin	-0.5
Westmoreland	-0.5
Allegheny	-0.4
Butler	-0.3
Montgomery	-0.3
Chester	-0.1
Erie	-0.1
Washington	-0.1
Lehigh	0.0
Luzerne	0.2
Philadelphia	0.2
Lackawanna	0.5
York	0.6
Cumberland	0.7
Lancaster	0.8
Northampton	1.6

Philadelphia County (720,800) had the highest employment level in Pennsylvania in March 2026. Together, the 19 largest counties accounted for 75.8 percent of total covered employment within the state. Nationwide, the 376 largest counties comprise 73.5 percent of total covered employment in the United States. (Large counties and county equivalents are those with annual average employment levels of 75,000 or more in 2025.)

Average weekly wage gains in 13 of the 18 large counties in Pennsylvania with published data were below the national average of 3.9 percent. (See chart 2.) Delaware had the largest gain (+5.9 percent). Over-the-year wage gains among the other 17 large Pennsylvania counties ranged from 4.8 percent to 0.8 percent.

  

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Chart 2. Over-the-year percent change in covered average weekly wages among the largest counties in Pennsylvania, first quarter 2026

County	Percent change, first quarter 2026
Delaware	5.9
Northampton	4.8
Butler	4.3
Chester	4.3
Montgomery	3.9
Dauphin	3.5
Philadelphia	3.3
Allegheny	3.2
Washington	3.0
Lancaster	2.7
Cumberland	2.5
Westmoreland	2.4
Luzerne	2.2
Lackawanna	2.0
Bucks	1.7
Berks	1.4
Lehigh	1.3
Erie	0.8

Weekly wages in 5 of the 19 largest counties in Pennsylvania were above the national average of $1,654. Average weekly wages ranged from $2,064 in Montgomery to $1,086 in Lackawanna.

Statewide, average weekly wages increased 3.3 percent over the year to $1,550. Pennsylvania ranked 16th in average weekly wages among the 50 states and the District of Columbia and 34th in wage growth.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 48 smaller counties in Pennsylvania, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2025. (See table 2.) Wage levels in 47 of the 48 smaller counties were below the national average. Montour reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,812) among small counties. Perry reported the lowest average weekly wage ($842) in the state.

Among all 67 Pennsylvania counties, 8 reported average weekly wages less than $950, 19 had wages from $950 to $1,074, 18 had wages from $1,075 to $1,199, 10 had wages from $1,200 to $1,324, and 12 had average weekly wages of $1,325 or higher. (See map 1. and table 2.)

QCEW data for all states have been included in this release in table 3.

Nationwide coverage of the largest counties is published in the County Employment and Wages news release. Additional information about quarterly employment and wages data is available in the news release Technical Note and from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages website.

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The County Employment and Wages release for the second quarter 2026 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, December 2, 2026.