Data / Rankings / Covered employment (QCEW) / Counties in Illinois

Counties in Illinois by covered employment (QCEW)

Cook County had the highest covered employment (QCEW) of 102 counties in 2022, at 2,519,083 jobs. Pope County had the lowest, at 573 jobs. The median was 7,606 jobs and the figure for Illinois was 5,918,832 jobs. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest2,519,083Cook County
Lowest573Pope County
Median7,606102 counties
Illinois5,918,832History

Map of counties, 2022

Adams County: 31,935 jobsAlexander County: 828 jobsBond County: 4,335 jobsBoone County: 13,412 jobsBrown County: 4,624 jobsBureau County: 10,911 jobsCalhoun County: 738 jobsCarroll County: 4,071 jobsCass County: 5,308 jobsChampaign County: 93,661 jobsChristian County: 9,248 jobsClark County: 4,435 jobsClay County: 4,553 jobsClinton County: 12,078 jobsColes County: 23,054 jobsCook County: 2,519,083 jobsCrawford County: 6,977 jobsCumberland County: 2,848 jobsDeKalb County: 36,381 jobsDe Witt County: 5,038 jobsDouglas County: 7,561 jobsDuPage County: 603,675 jobsEdgar County: 7,350 jobsEdwards County: 1,974 jobsEffingham County: 23,436 jobsFayette County: 5,559 jobsFord County: 5,357 jobsFranklin County: 8,889 jobsFulton County: 8,314 jobsGallatin County: 900 jobsGreene County: 2,312 jobsGrundy County: 21,204 jobsHamilton County: 1,954 jobsHancock County: 4,097 jobsHardin County: 744 jobsHenderson County: 1,105 jobsHenry County: 13,159 jobsIroquois County: 7,003 jobsJackson County: 24,584 jobsJasper County: 2,110 jobsJefferson County: 19,079 jobsJersey County: 5,191 jobsJo Daviess County: 7,248 jobsJohnson County: 2,312 jobsKane County: 210,204 jobsKankakee County: 42,149 jobsKendall County: 29,502 jobsKnox County: 16,155 jobsLake County: 326,413 jobsLaSalle County: 40,143 jobsLawrence County: 3,838 jobsLee County: 12,532 jobsLivingston County: 13,315 jobsLogan County: 8,174 jobsMcDonough County: 10,152 jobsMcHenry County: 95,259 jobsMcLean County: 84,087 jobsMacon County: 45,860 jobsMacoupin County: 10,006 jobsMadison County: 101,735 jobsMarion County: 12,572 jobsMarshall County: 2,807 jobsMason County: 2,801 jobsMassac County: 2,855 jobsMenard County: 1,678 jobsMercer County: 3,172 jobsMonroe County: 8,560 jobsMontgomery County: 8,575 jobsMorgan County: 13,556 jobsMoultrie County: 5,163 jobsOgle County: 15,237 jobsPeoria County: 102,224 jobsPerry County: 4,475 jobsPiatt County: 3,535 jobsPike County: 3,953 jobsPope County: 573 jobsPulaski County: 1,207 jobsPutnam County: 1,737 jobsRandolph County: 11,515 jobsRichland County: 5,867 jobsRock Island County: 72,287 jobsSt. Clair County: 89,032 jobsSaline County: 7,650 jobsSangamon County: 127,882 jobsSchuyler County: 1,498 jobsScott County: 882 jobsShelby County: 4,781 jobsStark County: 1,475 jobsStephenson County: 16,809 jobsTazewell County: 45,865 jobsUnion County: 5,088 jobsVermilion County: 25,326 jobsWabash County: 3,402 jobsWarren County: 6,079 jobsWashington County: 6,642 jobsWayne County: 3,981 jobsWhite County: 3,893 jobsWhiteside County: 20,797 jobsWill County: 255,761 jobsWilliamson County: 27,343 jobsWinnebago County: 123,908 jobsWoodford County: 10,654 jobs
  • Under 10K
  • 10K to 40K
  • 40K and over
jobs, 2022. Source: BLS, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average employment, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

Top 40 counties, 2022

Cook County: 2,519,083 jobsCook County2,519,083DuPage County: 603,675 jobsDuPage County603,675Lake County: 326,413 jobsLake County326,413Will County: 255,761 jobsWill County255,761Kane County: 210,204 jobsKane County210,204Sangamon County: 127,882 jobsSangamon County127,882Winnebago County: 123,908 jobsWinnebago County123,908Peoria County: 102,224 jobsPeoria County102,224Madison County: 101,735 jobsMadison County101,735McHenry County: 95,259 jobsMcHenry County95,259Champaign County: 93,661 jobsChampaign County93,661St. Clair County: 89,032 jobsSt. Clair County89,032McLean County: 84,087 jobsMcLean County84,087Rock Island County: 72,287 jobsRock Island County72,287Tazewell County: 45,865 jobsTazewell County45,865Macon County: 45,860 jobsMacon County45,860Kankakee County: 42,149 jobsKankakee County42,149LaSalle County: 40,143 jobsLaSalle County40,143DeKalb County: 36,381 jobsDeKalb County36,381Adams County: 31,935 jobsAdams County31,935Kendall County: 29,502 jobsKendall County29,502Williamson County: 27,343 jobsWilliamson County27,343Vermilion County: 25,326 jobsVermilion County25,326Jackson County: 24,584 jobsJackson County24,584Effingham County: 23,436 jobsEffingham County23,436Coles County: 23,054 jobsColes County23,054Grundy County: 21,204 jobsGrundy County21,204Whiteside County: 20,797 jobsWhiteside County20,797Jefferson County: 19,079 jobsJefferson County19,079Stephenson County: 16,809 jobsStephenson County16,809Knox County: 16,155 jobsKnox County16,155Ogle County: 15,237 jobsOgle County15,237Morgan County: 13,556 jobsMorgan County13,556Boone County: 13,412 jobsBoone County13,412Livingston County: 13,315 jobsLivingston County13,315Henry County: 13,159 jobsHenry County13,159Marion County: 12,572 jobsMarion County12,572Lee County: 12,532 jobsLee County12,532Clinton County: 12,078 jobsClinton County12,078Randolph County: 11,515 jobsRandolph County11,515Cook County: 2,519,083 jobsCook County2,519,083DuPage County: 603,675 jobsDuPage County603,675Lake County: 326,413 jobsLake County326,413Will County: 255,761 jobsWill County255,761Kane County: 210,204 jobsKane County210,204Sangamon County: 127,882 jobsSangamon County127,882Winnebago County: 123,908 jobsWinnebago County123,908Peoria County: 102,224 jobsPeoria County102,224Madison County: 101,735 jobsMadison County101,735McHenry County: 95,259 jobsMcHenry County95,259Champaign County: 93,661 jobsChampaign County93,661St. Clair County: 89,032 jobsSt. Clair County89,032McLean County: 84,087 jobsMcLean County84,087Rock Island County: 72,287 jobsRock Island County72,287Tazewell County: 45,865 jobsTazewell County45,865Macon County: 45,860 jobsMacon County45,860Kankakee County: 42,149 jobsKankakee County42,149LaSalle County: 40,143 jobsLaSalle County40,143DeKalb County: 36,381 jobsDeKalb County36,381Adams County: 31,935 jobsAdams County31,935Kendall County: 29,502 jobsKendall County29,502Williamson County: 27,343 jobsWilliamson County27,343Vermilion County: 25,326 jobsVermilion County25,326Jackson County: 24,584 jobsJackson County24,584Effingham County: 23,436 jobsEffingham County23,436Coles County: 23,054 jobsColes County23,054Grundy County: 21,204 jobsGrundy County21,204Whiteside County: 20,797 jobsWhiteside County20,797Jefferson County: 19,079 jobsJefferson County19,079Stephenson County: 16,809 jobsStephenson County16,809Knox County: 16,155 jobsKnox County16,155Ogle County: 15,237 jobsOgle County15,237Morgan County: 13,556 jobsMorgan County13,556Boone County: 13,412 jobsBoone County13,412Livingston County: 13,315 jobsLivingston County13,315Henry County: 13,159 jobsHenry County13,159Marion County: 12,572 jobsMarion County12,572Lee County: 12,532 jobsLee County12,532Clinton County: 12,078 jobsClinton County12,078Randolph County: 11,515 jobsRandolph County11,515
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.

Full ranking

RankCounties2022
jobs		Change on 2021
1Cook County2,519,083+4%
2DuPage County603,675+2.9%
3Lake County326,413+1.4%
4Will County255,761+4.7%
5Kane County210,204+4.8%
6Sangamon County127,882+2.3%
7Winnebago County123,908+5.5%
8Peoria County102,224+3%
9Madison County101,735+2.3%
10McHenry County95,259+1.7%
11Champaign County93,661+3.3%
12St. Clair County89,032+2%
13McLean County84,087+5.8%
14Rock Island County72,287+3%
15Tazewell County45,865+3.2%
16Macon County45,860+2.6%
17Kankakee County42,149+1.1%
18LaSalle County40,143-0%
19DeKalb County36,381+5.1%
20Adams County31,935+1.7%
21Kendall County29,502+2.7%
22Williamson County27,343+1.7%
23Vermilion County25,326+1.6%
24Jackson County24,584+3.8%
25Effingham County23,436+4.7%
26Coles County23,054+2.8%
27Grundy County21,204+1.3%
28Whiteside County20,797+3.3%
29Jefferson County19,079+2.8%
30Stephenson County16,809+0.3%
31Knox County16,155-0%
32Ogle County15,237+3.7%
33Morgan County13,556+0.1%
34Boone County13,412-10.1%
35Livingston County13,315+4%
36Henry County13,159-1.3%
37Marion County12,572+3.5%
38Lee County12,532+0.4%
39Clinton County12,078+1.4%
40Randolph County11,515-0.9%
41Bureau County10,911-0.9%
42Woodford County10,654+6.3%
43McDonough County10,152+3.8%
44Macoupin County10,006+0.3%
45Christian County9,248+1.4%
46Franklin County8,889+5.6%
47Montgomery County8,575+1.1%
48Monroe County8,560+2.1%
49Fulton County8,314+3.5%
50Logan County8,174-2.1%
51Saline County7,650+4.7%
52Douglas County7,561+1.5%
53Edgar County7,350+4.7%
54Jo Daviess County7,248+1.5%
55Iroquois County7,003-0.1%
56Crawford County6,977+1.7%
57Washington County6,642+4.8%
58Warren County6,079+4.5%
59Richland County5,867+4.2%
60Fayette County5,559+4.2%
61Ford County5,357+13.3%
62Cass County5,308+3.7%
63Jersey County5,191+1.1%
64Moultrie County5,163+1%
65Union County5,088+2.5%
66De Witt County5,038+5.2%
67Shelby County4,781-3.2%
68Brown County4,624+4.3%
69Clay County4,553-1.6%
70Perry County4,4750%
71Clark County4,435+2.9%
72Bond County4,335+3.9%
73Hancock County4,097+4.5%
74Carroll County4,071-0.2%
75Wayne County3,981+4.9%
76Pike County3,953+1.6%
77White County3,893+5%
78Lawrence County3,838-7.6%
79Piatt County3,535+2.6%
80Wabash County3,402+10.7%
81Mercer County3,172+3.3%
82Massac County2,855+0.4%
83Cumberland County2,848+3.5%
84Marshall County2,807-1%
85Mason County2,801+1.5%
86Greene County2,312-0.2%
86Johnson County2,312-0.8%
88Jasper County2,110+2.4%
89Edwards County1,974-2.4%
90Hamilton County1,954+3.2%
91Putnam County1,737+0.6%
92Menard County1,678+2.7%
93Schuyler County1,498-1.6%
94Stark County1,475+2.5%
95Pulaski County1,207+2.4%
96Henderson County1,105+0.1%
97Gallatin County900+5.8%
98Scott County882+0.7%
99Alexander County828+0.6%
100Hardin County744+15.5%
101Calhoun County738+3.5%
102Pope County573+15.3%

Other periods

About this ranking

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.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

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/2022/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 (Counties in Illinois by covered employment (QCEW), 2022) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2022/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, Counties in Illinois by covered employment (QCEW), 2022. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 Aug. 2026, https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2022/a/industry/10.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/illinois-counties?period=2022. 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. Counties in Illinois by covered employment (QCEW), 2022. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2022/a/industry/10.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/illinois-counties?period=2022.

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, Counties in Illinois by covered employment (QCEW), 2022 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2022/a/industry/10.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/illinois-counties?period=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_counties_in_illinois_by_2022,
  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: Counties in Illinois by covered employment (QCEW), 2022}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2022/a/industry/10.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/illinois-counties?period=2022. 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/2022/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: Counties in Illinois by covered employment (QCEW), 2022
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/21
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2022/a/industry/10.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/illinois-counties?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/illinois-counties?period=2022.
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/2022/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.

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:

Rank Counties in Illinois by covered employment (QCEW) using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"covered_employment","level":"province","within":"Illinois","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=covered_employment&level=province&within=Illinois&limit=10

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

Questions

Which county has the highest covered employment (QCEW)?

Cook County, with 2,519,083 jobs in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which county has the lowest covered employment (QCEW)?

Pope County, with 573 jobs in 2022.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: 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 2026-10-12.

Covered employment (QCEW): other rankings

Counties in Illinois: more rankings