Employment decreased in 6 of the 7 largest counties in Missouri from September 2024 to September 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Jerome Watters noted that St. Louis County had the largest over-the-year decrease in employment, with a loss of 2.2 percent. (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 Missouri, September 2025

County	Percent change, September 2025
St. Louis	-2.2
St. Louis City	-1.1
Clay	-1.0
St. Charles	-0.3
Greene	-0.2
Jackson	-0.2
Boone	1.2

Among the seven largest counties in Missouri, employment was highest in St. Louis County (584,100) in September 2025. Together, the seven largest counties accounted for 59.8 percent of total covered employment within the state. Nationwide, the 372 largest counties comprise 73.2 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.)

All six large Missouri counties with published data reported average weekly wage increases over the year. (See chart 2.) Clay had the largest increase (+6.0 percent). Over-the-year wage changes for Missouri's other large counties ranged from 5.6 percent to 3.2 percent.

  

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

County	Percent change, third quarter 2025
Clay	6.0
Boone	5.6
St. Louis	5.1
St. Charles	3.9
St. Louis City	3.4
Greene	3.2

The weekly wage in St. Louis City ($1,549) was above the national average of $1,459. Average weekly wages in the remaining six large counties ranged from $1,445 in St. Louis County to $1,131 in Greene.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 108 small counties in Missouri, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.) Wage levels in all 108 smaller counties were below the national average. Buchanan reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,182). Ozark reported the lowest average weekly wage ($626) in the state, closely followed by Worth ($629).

Among all 115 Missouri counties, 15 reported average weekly wages of $774 or less, 26 had wages from $775 to $849, 28 had wages from $850 to $924, 24 had wages from $925 to $999, and 22 had average weekly wages of $1,000 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 fourth quarter 2025 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.