Employment declined in 5 of the 8 largest counties in Minnesota from December 2024 to December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that Dakota County (-1.0 percent) had the largest over-the-year decrease in employment. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in covered employment among the largest counties in Minnesota, December 2025

County	Percent change, December 2025
Olmsted	0.9
Ramsey	0.3
Anoka	0.1
Hennepin	-0.4
Washington	-0.4
Stearns	-0.5
St. Louis	-0.9
Dakota	-1.0

Hennepin County (919,300) had the highest employment level in Minnesota in December 2025. Together, the eight largest counties accounted for 66.4 percent of total covered employment within the state. Nationwide, the 372 largest counties comprise 73.4 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 2024.)

Average weekly wage changes in 4 of 8 large counties in Minnesota were above the national average of 4.2 percent. (See chart 2.) Stearns had the largest gain (+5.5 percent), followed by Anoka (+5.4 percent). Over-the-year wage changes among the other six large Minnesota counties ranged from 4.6 percent to -3.5 percent.

  

View Chart Data

Chart 2. Over-the-year percent change in covered average weekly wages among the largest counties in Minnesota, fourth quarter 2025

County	Percent change, fourth quarter 2025
Stearns	5.5
Anoka	5.4
Ramsey	4.6
Washington	4.4
Hennepin	3.4
St. Louis	3.1
Dakota	0.5
Olmsted	-3.5

Weekly wages in 3 of the 8 largest counties in Minnesota were above the national average of $1,569: Hennepin ($1,776), Ramsey ($1,586), and Olmsted ($1,579). Average weekly wages among the other five large counties ranged from $1,473 in Dakota to $1,225 in St. Louis.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 79 smaller counties in Minnesota, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.)  Wage levels in 78 of the 79 smaller counties were below the national average. Stevens reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,591) among the smaller counties. Fillmore reported the lowest average weekly wage ($924) in the state.

Among all 87 Minnesota counties, 9 reported average weekly wages less than $1,000, 13 had wages from $1,000 to $1,074, 25 had wages from $1,075 to $1,149, 22 had wages from $1,150 to $1,224, and 18 had average weekly wages of $1,225 or higher.  (See map 1 and table 2.)

QCEW data for 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.

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

The County Employment and Wages release for the first quarter 2026 is scheduled to be released on Friday, August 28, 2026.