Employment rose in 1 of the 3 largest counties in Arkansas from December 2024 to December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Jerome Watters noted that Benton County (+3.6 percent) had the only 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 Arkansas, December 2025

County	Percent change, December 2025
Benton	3.6
Pulaski	-0.3
Washington	-0.4

Pulaski County (265,000) had the highest employment level in Arkansas in December 2025. Together, the three largest counties accounted for 41.1 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 2 of 3 large counties in Arkansas were above the national average of 4.2 percent. (See chart 2.) Benton had the largest gain (+10.4 percent). Wages also increased for Pulaski (+4.5 percent) and Washington (+2.3 percent).

  

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

County	Percent change, fourth quarter 2025
Benton	10.4
Pulaski	4.5
Washington	2.3

Benton ($1,653) had a weekly wage above the national average of $1,569. Average weekly wages among the other two large counties were $1,316 in Pulaski and $1,312 in Washington.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 72 smaller counties in Arkansas, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.)  Wage levels in 71 of the 72 smaller counties were below the national average. Mississippi reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,571) among the smaller counties. Newton reported the lowest average weekly wage ($746) in the state.

Among all 75 Arkansas counties, 24 reported average weekly wages less than $900, 12 had wages from $900 to $949, 12 had wages from $950 to $999, 10 had wages from $1,000 to $1,049, and 17 had average weekly wages of $1,050 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.