Covered employment (QCEW) in Buffalo County

Covered employment (QCEW) in Buffalo County was 530 jobs in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is down 1.5% from 2024. That is the 61st highest of 66 counties in 2025.

2025, jobs530

Change on 2024-1.5%

Rank61st of 66Counties in South Dakota ranked

Series high5442022

Series low3682009

Next release: Saturday, 21 August 2027, estimated by Invokely from past publication dates (low confidence), not announced by the publisher. Release calendar

Covered employment (QCEW) in Buffalo County, 2001 to 2025

jobs. Source: BLS, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. Retrieved 2026-10-12, published 2026-08-21.

All 25 values

Period	jobs
2025	530
2024	538
2023	530
2022	544
2021	518
2020	494
2019	490
2018	520
2017	511
2016	518
2015	519
2014	522
2013	523
2012	523
2011	508
2010	462
2009	368
2008	370
2007	374
2006	429
2005	527
2004	542
2003	532
2002	524
2001	536

Compared with South Dakota and United States

Place	2025
Buffalo County	530
South Dakota	460,392
United States	155,732,363

Buffalo County compared with nearby places

Under 1,000
1,000 to 2,000
2,000 to 3,000
3,000 to 9,000
9,000 and over

Covered employment (QCEW), 2025, jobs. Buffalo County is outlined. Same source and period for every area shown. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

Rankings

US states by covered employment (QCEW) 51 places
Counties in South Dakota by covered employment (QCEW) 66 places

Definition

Average number of jobs covered by unemployment insurance during the year, all industries, private and government, from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Counted where the job is located, from the reports employers file each quarter; monthly employment counts the jobs in the pay period that includes the 12th.

Counts jobs, not people: someone with two jobs counts twice. Covers about 95 percent of US wage and salary jobs. Excludes the self-employed, most agricultural workers on small farms, the armed forces, elected officials in most states, most railroad employees, some domestic workers and most student workers at schools. A count of employer reports, not a survey estimate like oews_employment.

Report a problem with this figure

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/10.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties (Covered employment (QCEW), Buffalo County, 2001 to 2025) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/10.csv

MLA 9

Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties, Covered employment (QCEW), Buffalo County, 2001 to 2025. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 Aug. 2026, https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/10.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/covered-employment/buffalo-county-south-dakota. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. Covered employment (QCEW), Buffalo County, 2001 to 2025. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/10.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/covered-employment/buffalo-county-south-dakota.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties, Covered employment (QCEW), Buffalo County, 2001 to 2025 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/10.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/covered-employment/buffalo-county-south-dakota (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{bureau_covered_employment_qcew_buffalo_2025,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties: Covered employment (QCEW), Buffalo County, 2001 to 2025}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/10.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/covered-employment/buffalo-county-south-dakota. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/10.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties: Covered employment (QCEW), Buffalo County, 2001 to 2025
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/21
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/10.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/covered-employment/buffalo-county-south-dakota
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/covered-employment/buffalo-county-south-dakota.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/10.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/covered-employment/buffalo-county-south-dakota" width="760" height="440" title="Covered employment (QCEW), Buffalo County, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

What is the latest covered employment (QCEW) in Buffalo County? Cite the source.

get_value {"indicator":"covered_employment","place":"us-county-46017"}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/value?indicator=covered_employment&place=us-county-46017

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

What is the covered employment (QCEW) in Buffalo County?

Covered employment (QCEW) in Buffalo County was 530 jobs in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is down 1.5% from 2024. That is the 61st highest of 66 counties in 2025.

Where does this figure come from?

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-12.

What was the highest covered employment (QCEW) in Buffalo County?

544 jobs in 2022, the highest value since 2001 in this series.

Related statistics for Buffalo County

All statistics for Buffalo County | Buffalo County in figures