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Employment & Wages — By Metro
BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, summed across all ~1,029 industry codes on file -- ranked by average weekly wage, not raw employment, since raw employment mostly just tracks county size. One quarter (2025) on file, presented as a single snapshot, not yet a trend.
Ranked by average weekly wage, not total employment -- total employment mostly just tracks how big a place is, which isn't news. A small county at the top isn't a math artifact: it's often one dominant, well-paying employer or industry setting the whole county's average, which is a real thing about that place, not noise to filter out. One quarter of BLS data (2025) is on file, so this is a snapshot, not a trend yet.
92 metros ranked, highest average weekly wage first
# Metro Avg Weekly Wage Employment Establishments Counties
1 Silicon Valley $2,813 24,167,182 2,380,130 13
2 Seattle $2,344 11,187,654 752,400 3
3 New York City $2,278 52,674,658 4,026,314 22
4 New England $2,259 14,647,834 1,081,165 7
5 the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) $2,022 16,136,402 1,300,393 22
6 Boulder $2,018 1,033,276 109,522 1
7 Denver $1,861 8,860,060 764,990 10
8 Austin $1,845 6,671,095 457,430 5
9 Dallas $1,812 15,557,786 903,172 7
10 Houston $1,773 18,018,414 1,052,757 10
11 Greater Chicago $1,719 24,442,197 1,489,831 13
12 the Twin Cities $1,670 10,001,210 624,195 13
13 Greater San Diego $1,670 8,818,647 818,858 1
14 Greater Los Angeles $1,658 35,993,043 4,428,358 2
15 Greater Atlanta $1,657 15,141,058 1,374,692 29
16 Greater Miami / South Florida $1,597 16,520,973 1,623,571 3
17 the Research Triangle $1,593 6,004,214 502,753 10
18 Philadelphia $1,592 15,133,611 1,083,272 11
19 Des Moines $1,565 1,663,225 133,180 5
20 Nashville $1,512 5,513,034 422,124 14
21 Madison, WI $1,500 1,481,004 93,205 1
22 Indianapolis $1,499 5,035,032 312,900 11
23 Detroit $1,487 10,299,680 672,888 6
24 Pittsburgh $1,469 5,833,849 397,442 8
25 Cincinnati $1,445 4,801,640 338,570 14
26 Portland — the Silicon Forest $1,438 907,395 96,625 2
27 Greater Columbus $1,424 5,849,843 361,965 10
28 Tampa Bay $1,418 8,237,330 701,276 4
29 Milwaukee $1,415 3,585,814 258,490 4
30 Kansas City $1,406 4,879,533 380,035 14
31 the Sun Belt — Arizona $1,399 16,987,956 1,194,834 15
32 Oregon $1,398 8,840,934 881,257 34
33 Alaska $1,391 1,330,351 114,860 30
34 North Carolina $1,388 11,764,096 1,048,435 80
35 Greater Cleveland $1,387 5,488,576 379,487 6
36 Fort Worth $1,385 6,042,214 357,278 4
37 Greater St. Louis $1,376 6,760,629 578,727 15
38 Hawaii $1,354 2,518,879 253,350 4
39 Nevada $1,320 8,061,839 552,003 17
40 Harrisburg $1,307 1,419,165 77,015 3
41 New Orleans $1,303 2,095,470 229,204 7
42 Baton Rouge $1,300 1,875,937 178,736 10
43 Greater Orlando $1,299 7,996,892 561,885 4
44 Greater San Antonio $1,288 5,711,250 350,084 8
45 North Dakota $1,287 1,610,964 176,315 53
46 California $1,283 20,608,740 2,269,285 40
47 Bozeman & Greater Yellowstone $1,281 460,353 78,678 7
48 Greater Charlotte $1,268 533,400 62,575 3
49 Spokane $1,265 1,226,818 101,481 2
50 Upstate New York $1,246 13,329,076 1,099,349 52
51 Lehigh Valley (Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton) $1,244 1,455,479 100,975 4
52 Green Bay -- Titletown $1,235 715,252 46,085 3
53 Hampton Roads $1,229 3,116,311 233,395 15
54 Richland $1,224 569,552 47,300 2
55 the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Corridor $1,224 795,340 75,815 5
56 Alabama $1,222 7,734,895 719,775 67
57 Florida $1,220 17,268,745 1,559,190 56
58 Colorado $1,218 3,268,183 348,675 51
59 Ames $1,217 138,477 15,230 1
60 Washington State $1,212 3,210,181 318,780 29
61 Kentucky $1,204 5,509,746 694,860 114
62 Oklahoma $1,203 6,347,483 613,190 77
63 Wyoming $1,199 912,919 157,308 23
64 Piedmont Triad (Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point) $1,197 3,023,232 230,195 10
65 Nebraska $1,191 3,945,240 319,270 93
66 Tennessee $1,191 8,102,054 588,875 81
67 South Dakota $1,186 1,457,718 200,255 66
68 Monterey $1,152 1,016,230 96,150 1
69 New Mexico $1,150 3,674,814 312,920 33
70 South Carolina $1,145 7,738,237 738,035 43
71 Northwest Arkansas $1,139 1,249,395 98,609 3
72 Michigan $1,132 7,203,656 635,805 76
73 Idaho (Boise) $1,121 3,960,279 512,119 44
74 Illinois $1,117 3,457,727 307,740 80
75 Montana $1,111 1,578,114 213,785 49
76 Ohio $1,104 7,357,588 568,090 63
77 Wisconsin $1,094 4,737,208 486,726 63
78 Texas $1,090 13,218,530 1,100,265 220
79 Pennsylvania $1,087 6,532,289 527,370 45
80 West Virginia $1,084 2,465,332 287,743 55
81 Louisiana $1,081 3,706,112 430,515 47
82 State College, PA $1,054 200,439 18,025 1
83 Iowa $1,043 2,534,568 333,080 88
84 Walla Walla $1,042 108,386 10,846 1
85 Minnesota $1,041 2,782,830 298,855 73
86 Gettysburg $1,039 116,714 11,180 1
87 Arkansas $1,032 3,622,258 334,155 72
88 Erie, PA $1,027 475,467 33,500 1
89 Georgia $1,009 5,701,498 527,350 129
90 Youngstown $968 753,652 63,549 2
91 Mississippi $958 4,053,399 342,765 82
92 Missouri $949 3,928,855 429,600 99