Employment rose in 4 of the 7 largest counties in Alabama from December 2024 to December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that Baldwin County (+2.5 percent) had the largest over-the-year increase 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 Alabama, December 2025

County	Percent change, December 2025
Baldwin	2.5
Madison	1.2
Shelby	0.9
Jefferson	0.4
Montgomery	-0.6
Mobile	-0.7
Tuscaloosa	-1.3

Jefferson County (372,800) had the highest employment level in Alabama in December 2025. Together, the seven largest counties accounted for 55.7 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.)

All six large Alabama counties with published data reported average weekly wage gains over the year. (See chart 2.) Shelby had the largest gain (+5.1 percent). Over-the-year wage gains among the other five large Alabama counties ranged from 4.0 percent to 2.6 percent.

  

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

County	Percent change, fourth quarter 2025
Shelby	5.1
Baldwin	4.0
Jefferson	3.9
Montgomery	3.9
Tuscaloosa	3.4
Mobile	2.6

Madison ($1,581) had a weekly wage above the national average of $1,569. Average weekly wages among the other six large counties ranged from $1,502 in Jefferson to $1,084 in Baldwin.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 60 smaller counties in Alabama, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.) Wage levels in 59 of the 60 smaller counties were below the national average. Washington reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,752) in the state. Randolph reported the lowest average weekly wage ($855).

Among all 67 Alabama counties, 16 reported average weekly wages less than $1,000, 18 had wages from $1,000 to $1,074, 13 had wages from $1,075 to $1,149, 7 had wages from $1,150 to $1,224, and 13 had average weekly wages of $1,225 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, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).