Counties in Louisiana by covered employment (QCEW)

East Baton Rouge Parish had the highest covered employment (QCEW) of 64 counties in 2018, at 267,593 jobs. Tensas Parish had the lowest, at 917 jobs. The median was 10,498 jobs and the figure for Louisiana was 1,921,498 jobs. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Highest267,593East Baton Rouge Parish

Lowest917Tensas Parish

Median10,49864 counties

Louisiana1,921,498History

Map of counties, 2018

Under 4,000
4,000 to 6,000
6,000 to 10K
10K to 15K
15K to 45K
45K and over

jobs, 2018. 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, 2018

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

Rank	Counties	2018 jobs	Change on 2017
1	East Baton Rouge Parish	267,593	+0.8%
2	Orleans Parish	196,659	+1.4%
3	Jefferson Parish	189,665	-0.7%
4	Lafayette Parish	130,603	+1.2%
5	Caddo Parish	111,979	-0.6%
6	Calcasieu Parish	101,874	+3.6%
7	St. Tammany Parish	89,105	+0.8%
8	Ouachita Parish	70,503	-0.4%
9	Rapides Parish	56,716	-0.4%
10	Terrebonne Parish	49,809	+0.3%
11	Ascension Parish	45,708	+0.4%
12	Bossier Parish	44,381	+3.2%
13	Tangipahoa Parish	43,633	-0.2%
14	Lafourche Parish	34,132	+1.9%
15	Livingston Parish	28,012	+2%
16	Iberia Parish	26,334	-0.1%
17	St. Landry Parish	23,615	+0.6%
18	St. Charles Parish	23,600	-2.3%
19	St. Mary Parish	21,357	+1%
20	Lincoln Parish	19,239	+1.1%
21	Iberville Parish	17,248	+1.9%
22	St. John the Baptist Parish	15,107	+3.2%
23	Acadia Parish	14,469	+0.4%
24	Natchitoches Parish	13,299	+2%
25	Vermilion Parish	12,642	-0.7%
26	Vernon Parish	12,638	-2%
27	Plaquemines Parish	12,357	-1.3%
28	West Baton Rouge Parish	12,137	-3.9%
29	St. Martin Parish	12,119	+1.1%
30	Cameron Parish	11,904	-11.4%
31	Webster Parish	11,725	+3.6%
32	Avoyelles Parish	10,553	-0.9%
33	Washington Parish	10,442	-0.7%
34	St. Bernard Parish	10,182	+1.4%
35	Jefferson Davis Parish	8,324	-1%
36	St. James Parish	8,138	+2.3%
37	Beauregard Parish	8,100	-0.5%
38	Evangeline Parish	7,708	-4.8%
39	Allen Parish	7,597	-3.6%
40	De Soto Parish	6,926	+3.5%
41	Morehouse Parish	6,633	-2.3%
42	Richland Parish	6,550	+0.4%
43	West Feliciana Parish	5,539	+1.5%
44	Sabine Parish	5,317	+4.1%
45	Pointe Coupee Parish	5,271	+7.4%
46	Concordia Parish	5,242	-1.5%
47	Union Parish	5,145	+3.8%
48	East Feliciana Parish	5,008	+3.1%
49	Franklin Parish	4,702	+0.1%
50	Winn Parish	4,598	-0.9%
51	LaSalle Parish	4,487	+4.8%
52	Bienville Parish	4,407	+1.6%
53	Assumption Parish	3,881	+3.6%
54	Jackson Parish	3,426	-3.2%
55	Grant Parish	3,419	+0.6%
56	Claiborne Parish	3,371	-0.3%
57	Madison Parish	3,164	-5.2%
58	Red River Parish	2,810	+9.5%
59	West Carroll Parish	2,378	+1.3%
60	Caldwell Parish	2,326	-0.7%
61	Catahoula Parish	2,001	-1%
62	East Carroll Parish	1,730	-3.4%
63	St. Helena Parish	1,462	+1.2%
64	Tensas Parish	917	-5.1%

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/2018/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 Louisiana by covered employment (QCEW), 2018) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/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 Louisiana by covered employment (QCEW), 2018. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 Aug. 2026, https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/louisiana-counties?period=2018. 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 Louisiana by covered employment (QCEW), 2018. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/louisiana-counties?period=2018.

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 Louisiana by covered employment (QCEW), 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/louisiana-counties?period=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{bureau_counties_in_louisiana_by_2018,
  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 Louisiana by covered employment (QCEW), 2018}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/louisiana-counties?period=2018. 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/2018/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 Louisiana by covered employment (QCEW), 2018
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/21
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/louisiana-counties?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/louisiana-counties?period=2018.
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/2018/a/industry/10.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which county has the highest covered employment (QCEW)?

East Baton Rouge Parish, with 267,593 jobs in 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which county has the lowest covered employment (QCEW)?

Tensas Parish, with 917 jobs in 2018.

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.