Employment declined in 1 of the 3 largest counties in Nebraska from December 2024 to December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that Douglas County (-0.1 percent) had the only over-the-year decrease in employment. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

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

County	Percent change, December 2025
Douglas	-0.1
Lancaster	0.2
Sarpy	1.5

Douglas County (343,300) had the highest employment level in Nebraska in December 2025. Together, the three largest counties accounted for 59.2 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 gains in 2 of 3 large counties in Nebraska were above the national average of 4.2 percent. (See chart 2.) Lancaster had the largest gain (+4.4 percent). Wages also increased for Douglas (+4.3 percent) and Sarpy (+1.9 percent).

  

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

County	Percent change, fourth quarter 2025
Lancaster	4.4
Douglas	4.3
Sarpy	1.9

Weekly wages in all three large counties in Nebraska were below the national average of $1,569: $1,414 in Douglas, $1,250 in Lancaster, and $1,195 in Sarpy.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 90 smaller counties in Nebraska, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.)  Wage levels in 89 of the 90 smaller counties were below the national average. Stanton reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,828) in the state. Keya Paha reported the lowest average weekly wage ($664).

Among all 93 Nebraska counties, 24 reported average weekly wages less than $925, 17 had wages from $925 to $1,024, 26 had wages from $1,025 to $1,124, and 26 had average weekly wages of $1,125 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.

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