Employment rose in 4 of the 12 largest counties in Georgia from December 2024 to December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that Cobb County (+0.6 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 Georgia, December 2025

County	Percent change, December 2025
Cobb	0.6
Fulton	0.4
Bibb	0.2
Clayton	0.2
Forsyth	0.0
DeKalb	-0.2
Richmond	-0.2
Hall	-0.5
Gwinnett	-0.8
Muscogee	-1.1
Chatham	-1.3
Henry	-1.6

Fulton County (954,500) had the highest employment level in Georgia in December 2025. Together, the 12 largest counties accounted for 58.8 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 11 large Georgia counties with published data reported average weekly wage gains over the year. (See chart 2.) Chatham had the largest gain (+5.7 percent). Over-the-year wage gains among the other 10 large Georgia counties ranged from 4.5 percent to 2.1 percent.

  

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

County	Percent change, fourth quarter 2025
Chatham	5.7
DeKalb	4.5
Clayton	4.2
Cobb	4.2
Gwinnett	3.9
Richmond	3.9
Bibb	3.7
Henry	3.5
Hall	3.1
Fulton	2.7
Forsyth	2.1

Weekly wages in 3 of the 12 largest counties in Georgia were above the national average of $1,569: Fulton ($1,995), DeKalb ($1,601), and Cobb ($1,589). Average weekly wages among the other nine large counties ranged from $1,490 in Clayton to $1,061 in Henry.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 147 smaller counties in Georgia, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.) Wage levels in all smaller counties were below the national average. Burke reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,482). Quitman reported the lowest average weekly wage ($719) in the state.

Among all 159 Georgia counties, 33 reported average weekly wages less than $925, 37 had wages from $925 to $999, 33 had wages from $1,000 to $1,074, 25 had wages from $1,075 to $1,149, and 31 had average weekly wages of $1,150 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).