Data / Covered employment (QCEW) / McDowell County

Covered employment (QCEW) in McDowell County

Covered employment (QCEW) in McDowell County was 15,394 jobs in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is up 0.3% from 2024. That is the 54th highest of 100 counties in 2025.

2025, jobs15,394
Change on 2024+0.3%
Rank54th of 100Counties in North Carolina ranked
Series high16,9962004
Series low14,3632009

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

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

14K15K16K17K20012005200920132017202120252001: 16,843 jobs2002: 16,776 jobs2003: 16,784 jobs2004: 16,996 jobs2005: 16,553 jobs2006: 16,341 jobs2007: 16,633 jobs2008: 15,967 jobs2009: 14,363 jobs2010: 14,439 jobs2011: 14,608 jobs2012: 14,931 jobs2013: 14,904 jobs2014: 15,737 jobs2015: 16,346 jobs2016: 16,120 jobs2017: 16,058 jobs2018: 16,285 jobs2019: 15,897 jobs2020: 15,356 jobs2021: 15,447 jobs2022: 15,441 jobs2023: 15,558 jobs2024: 15,350 jobs2025: 15,394 jobs14K15K16K17K2001201020252001: 16,843 jobs2002: 16,776 jobs2003: 16,784 jobs2004: 16,996 jobs2005: 16,553 jobs2006: 16,341 jobs2007: 16,633 jobs2008: 15,967 jobs2009: 14,363 jobs2010: 14,439 jobs2011: 14,608 jobs2012: 14,931 jobs2013: 14,904 jobs2014: 15,737 jobs2015: 16,346 jobs2016: 16,120 jobs2017: 16,058 jobs2018: 16,285 jobs2019: 15,897 jobs2020: 15,356 jobs2021: 15,447 jobs2022: 15,441 jobs2023: 15,558 jobs2024: 15,350 jobs2025: 15,394 jobs
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
Periodjobs
202515,394
202415,350
202315,558
202215,441
202115,447
202015,356
201915,897
201816,285
201716,058
201616,120
201516,346
201415,737
201314,904
201214,931
201114,608
201014,439
200914,363
200815,967
200716,633
200616,341
200516,553
200416,996
200316,784
200216,776
200116,843

Compared with North Carolina and United States

Place2025
McDowell County15,394
North Carolina4,941,383
United States155,732,363

McDowell County compared with nearby places

Alamance County: 66,529 jobsAlexander County: 8,667 jobsAlleghany County: 3,404 jobsAnson County: 6,666 jobsAshe County: 7,503 jobsAvery County: 7,784 jobsBeaufort County: 16,255 jobsBertie County: 5,322 jobsBladen County: 12,522 jobsBrunswick County: 43,201 jobsBuncombe County: 134,686 jobsBurke County: 29,771 jobsCabarrus County: 91,560 jobsCaldwell County: 25,294 jobsCamden County: 1,198 jobsCarteret County: 25,622 jobsCaswell County: 2,978 jobsCatawba County: 89,369 jobsChatham County: 20,318 jobsCherokee County: 7,869 jobsChowan County: 5,060 jobsClay County: 2,233 jobsCleveland County: 35,958 jobsColumbus County: 14,316 jobsCraven County: 40,422 jobsCumberland County: 122,272 jobsCurrituck County: 7,313 jobsDare County: 20,728 jobsDavidson County: 46,241 jobsDavie County: 14,573 jobsDuplin County: 19,630 jobsDurham County: 233,836 jobsEdgecombe County: 14,827 jobsForsyth County: 190,305 jobsFranklin County: 14,549 jobsGaston County: 81,516 jobsGates County: 1,428 jobsGraham County: 1,952 jobsGranville County: 21,067 jobsGreene County: 4,444 jobsGuilford County: 292,379 jobsHalifax County: 15,111 jobsHarnett County: 29,633 jobsHaywood County: 17,431 jobsHenderson County: 43,873 jobsHertford County: 8,390 jobsHoke County: 9,285 jobsHyde County: 1,705 jobsIredell County: 81,030 jobsJackson County: 19,262 jobsJohnston County: 65,551 jobsJones County: 1,581 jobsLee County: 27,415 jobsLenoir County: 29,635 jobsLincoln County: 28,818 jobsMcDowell County: 15,394 jobsMacon County: 12,592 jobsMadison County: 4,351 jobsMartin County: 6,126 jobsMecklenburg County: 791,613 jobsMitchell County: 4,641 jobsMontgomery County: 8,771 jobsMoore County: 42,751 jobsNash County: 40,231 jobsNew Hanover County: 131,696 jobsNorthampton County: 4,699 jobsOnslow County: 53,881 jobsOrange County: 79,536 jobsPamlico County: 4,072 jobsPasquotank County: 15,885 jobsPender County: 16,071 jobsPerquimans County: 2,262 jobsPerson County: 9,063 jobsPitt County: 81,398 jobsPolk County: 5,598 jobsRandolph County: 45,446 jobsRichmond County: 13,571 jobsRobeson County: 37,260 jobsRockingham County: 23,947 jobsRowan County: 51,121 jobsRutherford County: 18,151 jobsSampson County: 17,386 jobsScotland County: 12,552 jobsStanly County: 23,791 jobsStokes County: 7,553 jobsSurry County: 28,718 jobsSwain County: 6,871 jobsTransylvania County: 9,751 jobsTyrrell County: 972 jobsUnion County: 78,177 jobsVance County: 14,173 jobsWake County: 665,775 jobsWarren County: 2,921 jobsWashington County: 3,065 jobsWatauga County: 24,591 jobsWayne County: 41,053 jobsWilkes County: 18,897 jobsWilson County: 34,906 jobsYadkin County: 9,954 jobsYancey County: 4,927 jobs
  • Under 5,000
  • 5,000 to 9,000
  • 9,000 to 17K
  • 17K to 29K
  • 29K to 60K
  • 60K and over
Covered employment (QCEW), 2025, jobs. McDowell 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

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.

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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), McDowell 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), McDowell 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/mcdowell-county-north-carolina. 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), McDowell 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/mcdowell-county-north-carolina.

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), McDowell 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/mcdowell-county-north-carolina (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_covered_employment_qcew_mcdowell_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), McDowell 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/mcdowell-county-north-carolina. 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), McDowell 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/mcdowell-county-north-carolina
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/covered-employment/mcdowell-county-north-carolina.
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  -
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Questions

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

Covered employment (QCEW) in McDowell County was 15,394 jobs in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is up 0.3% from 2024. That is the 54th highest of 100 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 McDowell County?

16,996 jobs in 2004, the highest value since 2001 in this series.

Related statistics for McDowell County

All statistics for McDowell County | McDowell County in figures