Employment declined in 5 of the 7 largest counties in Missouri from December 2024 to December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Jerome Watters noted that St. Louis 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 Missouri, December 2025

County	Percent change, December 2025
St. Louis	-1.4
Clay	-0.8
St. Louis City	-0.8
Jackson	-0.4
St. Charles	-0.3
Greene	0.6
Boone	0.9

St. Louis County (592,200) had the highest employment level in Missouri in December 2025. Together, the seven largest counties accounted for 59.9 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 4 of 7 large counties in Missouri were above the national average of 4.2 percent. (See chart 2.) St. Louis City had the largest gain (+5.7 percent). Over-the-year wage gains among the other six large Missouri counties ranged from 5.3 percent to 2.0 percent.

  

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

County	Percent change, fourth quarter 2025
St. Louis City	5.7
Jackson	5.3
Boone	4.9
St. Louis	4.3
St. Charles	3.6
Clay	2.5
Greene	2.0

Weekly wages in 2 of the 7 largest counties in Missouri were above the national average of $1,569: St. Louis City ($1,611) and St. Louis County ($1,586). Average weekly wages among the other five large counties ranged from $1,537 in Jackson to $1,150 in Greene.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 108 smaller counties in Missouri, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.)  Wage levels in all smaller counties were below the national average. Buchanan reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,238) among the smaller counties. Ripley reported the lowest average weekly wage ($664) in the state.

Among all 115 Missouri counties, 23 reported average weekly wages less than $850, 26 had wages from $850 to $924, 32 had wages from $925 to $999, 13 had wages from $1,000 to $1,074, and 21 had average weekly wages of $1,075 or higher. (See map 1 and table 2.)