# Counties in North Carolina by covered employment (QCEW), 2025

All 100 values come from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2025, so the places are comparable.

- Indicator id: `covered_employment`
- Unit: jobs
- 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.
- Source: 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)
- Publisher page: https://invokely.ai/en/publishers/bureau-of-labor-statistics
- Retrieved: 2026-10-12
- Citation: 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.
- Web page: https://invokely.ai/rankings/covered-employment/north-carolina-counties

| Rank | Place | jobs |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | Mecklenburg County | 791,613 |
| 2 | Wake County | 665,775 |
| 3 | Guilford County | 292,379 |
| 4 | Durham County | 233,836 |
| 5 | Forsyth County | 190,305 |
| 6 | Buncombe County | 134,686 |
| 7 | New Hanover County | 131,696 |
| 8 | Cumberland County | 122,272 |
| 9 | Cabarrus County | 91,560 |
| 10 | Catawba County | 89,369 |
| 11 | Gaston County | 81,516 |
| 12 | Pitt County | 81,398 |
| 13 | Iredell County | 81,030 |
| 14 | Orange County | 79,536 |
| 15 | Union County | 78,177 |
| 16 | Alamance County | 66,529 |
| 17 | Johnston County | 65,551 |
| 18 | Onslow County | 53,881 |
| 19 | Rowan County | 51,121 |
| 20 | Davidson County | 46,241 |
| 21 | Randolph County | 45,446 |
| 22 | Henderson County | 43,873 |
| 23 | Brunswick County | 43,201 |
| 24 | Moore County | 42,751 |
| 25 | Wayne County | 41,053 |
| 26 | Craven County | 40,422 |
| 27 | Nash County | 40,231 |
| 28 | Robeson County | 37,260 |
| 29 | Cleveland County | 35,958 |
| 30 | Wilson County | 34,906 |
| 31 | Burke County | 29,771 |
| 32 | Lenoir County | 29,635 |
| 33 | Harnett County | 29,633 |
| 34 | Lincoln County | 28,818 |
| 35 | Surry County | 28,718 |
| 36 | Lee County | 27,415 |
| 37 | Carteret County | 25,622 |
| 38 | Caldwell County | 25,294 |
| 39 | Watauga County | 24,591 |
| 40 | Rockingham County | 23,947 |
| 41 | Stanly County | 23,791 |
| 42 | Granville County | 21,067 |
| 43 | Dare County | 20,728 |
| 44 | Chatham County | 20,318 |
| 45 | Duplin County | 19,630 |
| 46 | Jackson County | 19,262 |
| 47 | Wilkes County | 18,897 |
| 48 | Rutherford County | 18,151 |
| 49 | Haywood County | 17,431 |
| 50 | Sampson County | 17,386 |
| 51 | Beaufort County | 16,255 |
| 52 | Pender County | 16,071 |
| 53 | Pasquotank County | 15,885 |
| 54 | McDowell County | 15,394 |
| 55 | Halifax County | 15,111 |
| 56 | Edgecombe County | 14,827 |
| 57 | Davie County | 14,573 |
| 58 | Franklin County | 14,549 |
| 59 | Columbus County | 14,316 |
| 60 | Vance County | 14,173 |
| 61 | Richmond County | 13,571 |
| 62 | Macon County | 12,592 |
| 63 | Scotland County | 12,552 |
| 64 | Bladen County | 12,522 |
| 65 | Yadkin County | 9,954 |
| 66 | Transylvania County | 9,751 |
| 67 | Hoke County | 9,285 |
| 68 | Person County | 9,063 |
| 69 | Montgomery County | 8,771 |
| 70 | Alexander County | 8,667 |
| 71 | Hertford County | 8,390 |
| 72 | Cherokee County | 7,869 |
| 73 | Avery County | 7,784 |
| 74 | Stokes County | 7,553 |
| 75 | Ashe County | 7,503 |
| 76 | Currituck County | 7,313 |
| 77 | Swain County | 6,871 |
| 78 | Anson County | 6,666 |
| 79 | Martin County | 6,126 |
| 80 | Polk County | 5,598 |
| 81 | Bertie County | 5,322 |
| 82 | Chowan County | 5,060 |
| 83 | Yancey County | 4,927 |
| 84 | Northampton County | 4,699 |
| 85 | Mitchell County | 4,641 |
| 86 | Greene County | 4,444 |
| 87 | Madison County | 4,351 |
| 88 | Pamlico County | 4,072 |
| 89 | Alleghany County | 3,404 |
| 90 | Washington County | 3,065 |
| 91 | Caswell County | 2,978 |
| 92 | Warren County | 2,921 |
| 93 | Perquimans County | 2,262 |
| 94 | Clay County | 2,233 |
| 95 | Graham County | 1,952 |
| 96 | Hyde County | 1,705 |
| 97 | Jones County | 1,581 |
| 98 | Gates County | 1,428 |
| 99 | Camden County | 1,198 |
| 100 | Tyrrell County | 972 |