Employment declined in 8 of the 15 largest counties in Ohio from December 2024 to December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that Greene County (-2.5 percent) had the largest 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 Ohio, December 2025

County	Percent change, December 2025
Franklin	1.8
Warren	1.4
Delaware	0.7
Montgomery	0.6
Lorain	0.2
Lake	0.1
Wood	0.1
Stark	-0.2
Cuyahoga	-0.3
Hamilton	-0.5
Butler	-1.0
Lucas	-1.0
Mahoning	-1.0
Summit	-1.2
Greene	-2.5

Franklin County (804,700) had the highest employment level in Ohio in December 2025. Together, the 15 largest counties accounted for 66.6 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 7 of 14 large counties in Ohio with published data were below the national average of 4.2 percent. (See chart 2.) Stark had the largest gain (+6.5 percent). Over-the-year wage gains among the other 13 large Ohio counties ranged from 5.4 percent to 1.1 percent.

  

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

County	Percent change, fourth quarter 2025
Stark	6.5
Lake	5.4
Lucas	5.3
Butler	5.1
Summit	4.3
Mahoning	4.2
Montgomery	4.2
Wood	4.1
Cuyahoga	3.9
Hamilton	3.9
Lorain	3.8
Delaware	3.2
Franklin	3.2
Warren	1.1

Weekly wages in all 15 large counties in Ohio were below the national average of $1,569. Average weekly wages ranged from $1,553 in Hamilton to $1,088 in Mahoning.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 73 smaller counties in Ohio, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.)  Wage levels in all smaller counties were below the national average. Union reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,526) among the smaller counties. Hocking reported the lowest average weekly wage ($798) in the state.

Among all 88 Ohio counties, 10 reported average weekly wages less than $1,000, 17 had wages from $1,000 to $1,074, 20 had wages from $1,075 to $1,149, 21 had wages from $1,150 to $1,224, and 20 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.

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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.