Employment declined in 8 of the 10 largest counties in Michigan from December 2024 to December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that Ingham County (-1.4 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 Michigan, December 2025

County	Percent change, December 2025
Saginaw	1.6
Kent	0.1
Washtenaw	-0.2
Genesee	-0.3
Oakland	-0.6
Kalamazoo	-0.9
Wayne	-0.9
Macomb	-1.2
Ottawa	-1.2
Ingham	-1.4

Wayne County (726,100) had the highest employment level in Michigan in December 2025. Together, the 10 largest counties accounted for 68.9 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 10 large counties in Michigan were above the national average of 4.2 percent. (See chart 2.) Saginaw had the largest gain (+7.3 percent). Over-the-year wage gains among the other nine large Michigan counties ranged from 7.1 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 Michigan, fourth quarter 2025

County	Percent change, fourth quarter 2025
Saginaw	7.3
Ingham	7.1
Kent	5.5
Ottawa	5.4
Genesee	5.1
Kalamazoo	5.1
Wayne	4.3
Oakland	2.6
Washtenaw	1.9
Macomb	0.4

Oakland ($1,627) had a weekly wage above the national average of $1,569. Average weekly wages among the other nine large counties ranged from $1,566 in Wayne to $1,176 in Genesee.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 73 smaller counties in Michigan, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.) Wage levels in all smaller counties were below the national average. Midland reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,437). Keweenaw reported the lowest average weekly wage ($734) in the state.

Among all 83 Michigan counties, 19 reported average weekly wages less than $1,025, 16 had wages from $1,025 to $1,099, 18 had wages from $1,100 to $1,174, 13 had wages from $1,175 to $1,249, and 17 had average weekly wages of $1,250 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.