Employment declined in 8 of the 15 largest counties in Ohio from March 2025 to March 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Ohio employment decreased 0.2 percent over the year to 5,458,300 in March 2026, as measured by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program. (See table 1.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that Lucas County (-2.7 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 Ohio, March 2026

County	Percent change, March 2026
Lucas	-2.7
Greene	-2.5
Mahoning	-1.0
Summit	-1.0
Cuyahoga	-0.7
Hamilton	-0.5
Lake	-0.3
Lorain	-0.2
Stark	0.0
Delaware	0.3
Montgomery	0.3
Butler	0.5
Franklin	0.6
Warren	0.7
Licking	3.6

Franklin County (784,900) had the highest employment level in Ohio in March 2026. Together, the 15 largest counties accounted for 66.4 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 8 of the 14 large counties in Ohio with published data were below the national average of 3.9 percent. (See chart 2.) Delaware had the largest gain (+10.6 percent). Over-the-year wage gains among the other 13 large Ohio counties ranged from 5.7 percent to 0.4 percent.

  

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

County	Percent change, first quarter 2026
Delaware	10.6
Licking	5.7
Stark	5.5
Cuyahoga	4.8
Franklin	4.7
Summit	4.5
Hamilton	3.5
Lorain	3.1
Warren	2.9
Mahoning	2.5
Butler	2.1
Montgomery	2.0
Lake	1.5
Lucas	0.4

Weekly wages in 2 of the 15 largest counties in Ohio were above the national average of $1,654: Delaware ($1,836) and Hamilton ($1,701). Average weekly wages among the other 13 large counties ranged from $1,630 in Cuyahoga to $1,064 in Mahoning.

Statewide, average weekly wages increased 4.0 percent over the year to $1,417. Ohio ranked 26th in average weekly wages among the 50 states and the District of Columbia and 17th in wage growth.

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 2025. (See table 2.)  Wage levels in all of the smaller counties were below the national average. Union reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,396) among small counties. Hocking reported the lowest average weekly wage ($801) in the state.

Among all 88 Ohio counties, 16 reported average weekly wages less than $1,000, 23 had wages from $1,000 to $1,074, 18 had wages from $1,075 to $1,149, 14 had wages from $1,150 to $1,224, and 17 had average weekly wages of $1,225 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.