Employment increased in 13 of the 28 largest counties with published data in California from September 2024 to September 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that Placer County had the largest over-the-year increase in employment, with a gain of 1.5 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in covered employment among selected large counties in California, September 2025

County	Percent change, September 2025
Placer	1.5
San Joaquin	1.2
San Mateo	1.2
Merced	1.0
Santa Clara	1.0
San Bernardino	0.8
Riverside	0.7
Contra Costa	0.5
Kern	0.5
Sacramento	0.4
Sonoma	-0.1
San Francisco	-0.2
San Luis Obispo	-0.2
Solano	-0.2
Santa Barbara	-0.3
Tulare	-0.3
Alameda	-0.5
Fresno	-0.6
Yolo	-1.6
Napa	-2.6

Among the 29 largest counties in California, employment was highest in Los Angeles (4,517,500) in September 2025. Together, the 29 largest counties accounted for 93.0 percent of total covered employment within the state. Nationwide, the 372 largest counties comprise 73.2 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 29 large California counties reported average weekly wage increases over the year. (See chart 2.) San Mateo had the largest increase (+31.7 percent). Over-the-year wage changes for California's other large counties ranged from 13.0 percent to 0.9 percent.

  

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Chart 2. Over-the-year percent change in covered average weekly wages among selected large counties in California, third quarter 2025

County	Percent change, third quarter 2025
San Mateo	31.7
San Francisco	13.0
Santa Clara	11.8
Santa Barbara	6.3
San Luis Obispo	5.6
Orange	5.3
San Diego	5.3
Fresno	5.0
Alameda	4.7
Santa Cruz	4.6
Merced	2.7
Monterey	2.7
Riverside	2.6
Butte	2.5
Tulare	2.5
Marin	2.4
Stanislaus	2.1
Ventura	2.1
San Joaquin	1.6
Contra Costa	0.9

Weekly wages in 11 of the 29 largest counties in California were above the national average of $1,459. Average weekly wages ranged from $4,523 in San Mateo to $1,046 in Tulare.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 29 small counties in California, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.) Wage levels in all 29 smaller counties were below the national average. El Dorado reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,311). Mono reported the lowest average weekly wage ($1,038) in the state.

Among all 58 California counties, 2 reported average weekly wages of less than $1,050, 20 had wages from $1,050 to $1,174, 16 had wages from $1,175 to $1,299, 8 had wages from $1,300 to $1,424, and 12 had average weekly wages of $1,425 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 fourth quarter 2025 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.