Employment declined in 6 of the 8 largest counties in Minnesota from March 2025 to March 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Minnesota employment decreased 0.3 percent over the year to 2,878,100 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 Ramsey County (-1.6 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 Minnesota, March 2026

County	Percent change, March 2026
Ramsey	-1.6
Dakota	-1.2
Hennepin	-1.1
Stearns	-0.8
St. Louis	-0.7
Washington	-0.1
Anoka	0.0
Olmsted	0.6

Hennepin County (899,500) had the highest employment level in Minnesota in March 2026. Together, the eight 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 4 of the 8 large counties in Minnesota were above the national average of 3.9 percent. (See chart 2.) Olmsted had the largest gain (+13.8 percent). Over-the-year wage gains among the other seven large Minnesota counties ranged from 5.4 percent to 0.7 percent.

  

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

County	Percent change, first quarter 2026
Olmsted	13.8
Anoka	5.4
Hennepin	4.3
Ramsey	4.0
St. Louis	3.2
Washington	2.9
Stearns	2.5
Dakota	0.7

Weekly wages in 3 of the 8 largest counties in Minnesota were above the national average of $1,654: Hennepin ($2,065), Ramsey ($1,751), and Olmsted ($1,743). Average weekly wages among the other five large counties ranged from $1,491 in Dakota to $1,257 in St. Louis.

Statewide, average weekly wages increased 3.8 percent over the year to $1,630. Minnesota ranked 14th in average weekly wages among the 50 states and the District of Columbia and 24th in wage growth.

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 2025. (See table 2.)  Wage levels in all of the smaller counties were below the national average. Roseau reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,635) among small counties. Lincoln reported the lowest average weekly wage ($869) in the state.

Among all 87 Minnesota counties, 19 reported average weekly wages less than $1,000, 15 had wages from $1,000 to $1,074, 28 had wages from $1,075 to $1,149, 9 had wages from $1,150 to $1,224, and 16 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.