Employment declined in 8 of the 10 largest counties in Washington from March 2025 to March 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Washington employment decreased 0.2 percent over the year to 3,558,600 in March 2026, as measured by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program. (See table 1.) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that Whatcom and Yakima Counties (-0.7 percent each) had the largest over-the-year decrease in employment. (See chart 1.)

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in covered employment among the largest counties in Washington, March 2026

County	Percent change, March 2026
Whatcom	-0.7
Yakima	-0.7
Benton	-0.5
Kitsap	-0.5
Thurston	-0.4
King	-0.3
Spokane	-0.3
Pierce	-0.1
Clark	0.0
Snohomish	0.6

King County (1,421,300) had the highest employment level in Washington in March 2026. Together, the 10 largest counties accounted for 84.3 percent of total covered employment within the state. Nationwide, the 376 largest counties comprise 73.5 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 2025.)

Average weekly wage gains in 4 of the 9 large counties in Washington with published data were above the national average of 3.9 percent. (See chart 2.) Snohomish had the largest gain (+6.4 percent). Over-the-year wage gains among the other eight large Washington counties ranged from 4.5 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 Washington, first quarter 2026

County	Percent change, first quarter 2026
Snohomish	6.4
Spokane	4.5
Clark	4.3
Pierce	4.1
Benton	3.9
Thurston	3.9
Whatcom	3.7
Yakima	2.7
King	2.0

Weekly wages in 2 of the 10 largest counties in Washington were above the national average of $1,654: King ($2,739) and Snohomish ($1,759). Average weekly wages among the other eight large counties ranged from $1,588 in Kitsap to $1,041 in Yakima.

Statewide, average weekly wages increased 2.7 percent over the year to $1,998. Washington ranked 5th in average weekly wages among the 50 states and the District of Columbia and 44th in wage growth.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 29 smaller counties in Washington, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2025. (See table 2.) Wage levels in all of the smaller counties were below the national average. Pend Oreille reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,430) among small counties. Okanogan reported the lowest average weekly wage ($958) in the state.

Among all 39 Washington counties, 10 reported average weekly wages less than $1,100, 9 had wages from $1,100 to $1,199, 5 had wages from $1,200 to $1,299, 7 had wages from $1,300 to $1,399, and 8 had average weekly wages of $1,400 or higher. (See map 1 and table 2.)