US counties by wages and salaries paid

New York County had the highest wages and salaries paid of 3080 counties in 2016, at $287.22 billion. Loving County had the lowest, at $2.19 million. The median was $328.01 million and the figure for the United States was $8.09 trillion. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Highest287,223.3New York County

Lowest2.2Loving County

Median3283080 counties

United States8,086,749History

Map of counties, 2016

USD million, 2016. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: BEA, CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

Top 40 counties, 2016

USD million. Source: BEA, CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Counties	2016 USD million	Change on 2015
1	New York County	287,223.3	+1.6%
2	Los Angeles County	284,276.7	+4.1%
3	Cook County	177,690.4	+2.5%
4	Harris County	162,506.9	-2.7%
5	Santa Clara County	131,219.6	+6.8%
6	Dallas County	114,201.9	+4.6%
7	King County	106,272.1	+7.6%
8	Maricopa County	103,389.8	+4.5%
9	Orange County	102,214.5	+2.6%
10	San Diego County	95,377.5	+3.2%
11	San Francisco County	77,115.2	+9.5%
12	Middlesex County	74,366.6	+2.3%
13	District of Columbia	70,085.8	+3.6%
14	Fulton County	66,502	+6.6%
15	Hennepin County	64,840.3	+3.2%
16	Miami-Dade County	64,091	+3.9%
17	Suffolk County	62,969.2	+4.6%
18	Alameda County	57,596.6	+5.4%
19	Tarrant County	48,636.4	+2.4%
20	Clark County	47,457.7	+6%
21	Mecklenburg County	46,259.4	+4.8%
22	Travis County	46,250.8	+6.7%
23	Oakland County	46,207.6	+3.7%
24	Bexar County	45,553.8	+4.7%
25	San Mateo County	44,993	+6.5%
26	Philadelphia County	44,962.8	+2.3%
27	Wayne County	44,871.5	+3.5%
28	Broward County	44,024.8	+4.5%
29	Franklin County	43,460.1	+3.3%
30	Allegheny County	42,929.2	+0.2%
31	Cuyahoga County	42,649.4	+1.8%
32	Orange County	42,185.7	+6.1%
33	DuPage County	41,261.1	+1.3%
34	Sacramento County	39,904.4	+2.6%
35	Suffolk County	39,514.5	+3.3%
36	Nassau County	39,492	+3.7%
37	Hillsborough County	39,115.1	+5.9%
38	St. Louis County	37,612.7	+2.1%
39	Montgomery County	36,995.3	+2.9%
40	Salt Lake County	36,532.6	+5.7%
41	San Bernardino County	35,721.7	+4.9%
42	Montgomery County	35,471	+2.7%
43	Queens County	35,173.9	+4.9%
44	Marion County	35,149.7	+3.7%
45	Denver County	34,555.2	+3.5%
46	Palm Beach County	34,325.9	+4.2%
47	Riverside County	32,608.5	+4.3%
48	Wake County	32,271.8	+6.7%
49	Kings County	32,231.8	+4.5%
50	Hamilton County	32,066.8	+2.7%
51	Westchester County	31,012.1	+0.3%
52	Bergen County	30,783.9	+1.1%
53	Multnomah County	29,318.4	+6.2%
54	Duval County	29,161.1	+5.5%
55	Middlesex County	28,351.4	+3.1%
56	Davidson County	28,083.9	+3.8%
57	Honolulu County	27,995.7	+4%
58	Shelby County	27,987.2	+3.1%
59	Milwaukee County	27,228.2	+1.6%
60	Lake County	26,684.1	-0.8%
61	Contra Costa County	25,748.2	+5.3%
62	Collin County	25,688.4	+6.5%
63	Jefferson County	25,596.7	+3.7%
64	Morris County	24,992.6	+0.7%
65	Oklahoma County	24,608.8	-1.3%
66	Essex County	23,985.1	+3.3%
67	Erie County	23,156.1	+2.9%
68	Baltimore city	23,022.1	+2.7%
69	Norfolk County	23,016.4	+3%
70	Pinellas County	22,193.4	+4.1%
71	Baltimore County	22,057.6	+2.5%
72	Cobb County	22,027.9	+5.9%
73	Jackson County	21,742.3	+2.5%
74	Arapahoe County	21,653.5	+3.5%
75	Ramsey County	21,105.2	+1.5%
76	Anne Arundel County	20,940.6	+4.4%
77	Johnson County	20,128.5	+0.8%
78	Gwinnett County	20,081.6	+2.7%
79	Monroe County	20,013	+2%
80	Hudson County	19,802.8	+3.4%
81	Washington County	19,787.7	+3.5%
82	Jefferson County	19,606.5	+1.4%
83	Prince George's County	19,516.4	+3.3%
84	Kent County	19,376.7	+5.4%
85	Douglas County	19,000.4	+2.5%
86	Essex County	18,997.3	+2.8%
87	Worcester County	18,906.2	+3.2%
88	Ventura County	18,818.6	+0.6%
89	Chester County	18,424.9	+0.2%
90	Tulsa County	18,410.7	-1.7%
91	Dane County	18,368.5	+4.8%
92	New Castle County	18,356.2	-0.6%
93	Macomb County	18,330.2	+4.2%
94	DeKalb County	18,044.5	+4.4%
95	Snohomish County	17,547.5	+4.8%
96	Pima County	17,543.2	+2.1%
97	Pierce County	17,230.8	+4.4%
98	Somerset County	17,179.4	+1.5%
99	Arlington County	17,023.8	+3.5%
100	Fresno County	17,001.3	+4.9%
101	Providence County	16,747.2	+2.1%
102	Polk County	16,545.1	+4.1%
103	Bernalillo County	16,502.1	+4.1%
104	Mercer County	16,264.4	+4.4%
105	Union County	16,084.2	+1.3%
106	Bronx County	15,921.5	+3%
107	El Paso County	15,635.7	+3%
108	Kern County	15,422.3	-0.5%
109	Monmouth County	14,811.9	+3.6%
110	East Baton Rouge Parish	14,536.1	+1.2%
111	St. Louis city	14,416.3	+0.4%
112	Bucks County	14,233.9	+3.6%
113	Guilford County	14,153.7	+0.8%
114	Durham County	14,015.3	+1.7%
115	Summit County	13,985.3	+2.3%
116	Waukesha County	13,947.6	+2.9%
117	Greenville County	13,680.8	+3.8%
118	Delaware County	13,649.5	+2%
119	Albany County	13,641.5	+3.4%
120	Pulaski County	13,578.1	+2.7%
121	Jefferson County	13,482.1	+3.7%
122	El Paso County	13,423.2	+2.1%
123	Charleston County	13,353	+5.6%
124	Montgomery County	12,790	+2.2%
125	Hillsborough County	12,763.3	+3.9%
126	Onondaga County	12,558.7	+2%
127	Sedgwick County	12,527.9	-0.3%
128	Burlington County	12,398.9	+2.1%
129	Howard County	12,281.5	+3.4%
130	Will County	12,074.6	+6.1%
131	Denton County	11,904.8	+7.7%
132	Lee County	11,847.8	+6.8%
133	Knox County	11,751.1	+4%
134	Boulder County	11,734.8	+2.5%
135	Madison County	11,676.5	+3.2%
136	San Joaquin County	11,563.7	+5.3%
137	Ada County	11,360.2	+6.2%
138	Richland County	11,320.6	+2.9%
139	Camden County	11,302.8	+3.9%
140	Bristol County	11,241.7	+1.2%
141	Washtenaw County	11,217.3	+3.7%
142	Lancaster County	11,171.8	+4.1%
143	Sonoma County	11,070.8	+4.1%
144	Norfolk city	11,052.4	+3.1%
145	Adams County	11,024.1	+5.3%
146	Henrico County	11,015.9	+1.7%
147	Kane County	10,965.6	+3.3%
148	Orleans Parish	10,960.2	+0.8%
149	Loudoun County	10,825.1	+3.2%
150	Santa Barbara County	10,814.3	+0.5%
151	Spokane County	10,747.5	+4.2%
152	Lucas County	10,628.4	+2.2%
153	Brevard County	10,608.6	+4.5%
154	Dakota County	10,484.8	+1.5%
155	Hampden County	10,472.1	+2.2%
156	Lehigh County	10,429	+3.6%
157	Washoe County	10,312.1	+5.8%
158	Utah County	10,278.2	+8.1%
159	Jefferson Parish	10,166.9	+0.1%
160	Dauphin County	10,118.7	+0.8%
161	Plymouth County	10,077.4	+2.9%
162	Hamilton County	10,039.4	+3.2%
163	Anchorage Municipality	9,996.3	-3.4%
164	Fort Bend County	9,900.1	-0.5%
165	Forsyth County	9,801.9	+0.1%
166	Richmond city	9,762.9	+2.7%
167	Cumberland County	9,736.9	+4.3%
168	Fayette County	9,646.2	+3.7%
169	Polk County	9,634.3	+5.1%
170	Montgomery County	9,605.2	+2.4%
171	Virginia Beach city	9,476.2	+5.6%
172	Monterey County	9,442.7	+4.7%
173	Lake County	9,374.4	+0.6%
174	Seminole County	9,355.9	+7.2%
175	Passaic County	9,351.3	+0.7%
176	Placer County	9,219.4	+7.5%
177	Stanislaus County	8,858	+4.8%
178	Hidalgo County	8,825.8	+3%
179	Allen County	8,819	+2.1%
180	Williamson County	8,803.5	+5.3%
181	Berks County	8,642.5	+2.4%
182	York County	8,624.1	+3.8%
183	Rockingham County	8,606	+3.8%
184	Cumberland County	8,536.2	+0.2%
185	Solano County	8,514.5	+6.2%
186	Mobile County	8,417.7	+2.7%
187	Clackamas County	8,379.5	+5.6%
188	Marin County	8,345.3	+4.8%
189	Williamson County	8,212	+7.3%
190	Sarasota County	8,062.7	+4.3%
191	Nueces County	8,058.7	-1.1%
192	Lancaster County	8,058.7	+3%
193	Brown County	7,950.8	+2.1%
194	Larimer County	7,938.2	+5.3%
195	Hamilton County	7,917.8	+5.2%
196	Clark County	7,874.6	+5.4%
197	Butler County	7,869.8	+4.9%
198	Bell County	7,772.2	+0.4%
199	Alexandria city	7,659.9	+0.8%
200	Ocean County	7,647.6	+3.9%
201	Chatham County	7,642.7	+2.1%
202	Ingham County	7,548.8	+4.9%
203	Douglas County	7,547.1	+2.5%
204	Greene County	7,435.9	+2.8%
205	Collier County	7,229.5	+5.9%
206	Volusia County	7,171.3	+6.2%
207	Jefferson County	7,049.9	-0%
208	St. Charles County	7,037.4	+4.9%
209	Clayton County	7,021.8	+12.1%
210	Benton County	7,017.1	+5.2%
211	Leon County	7,002	+4.3%
212	Escambia County	6,996.1	+7.1%
213	Cumberland County	6,944.9	+1.2%
214	Orange County	6,910.3	+3.2%
215	Stark County	6,880.6	-0.2%
216	Linn County	6,879.3	+1.4%
217	Lane County	6,790.8	+4.6%
218	Marion County	6,772.1	+6.4%
219	Chesterfield County	6,718.2	+3.1%
220	Rockland County	6,630.6	-2.8%
221	Spartanburg County	6,623	+5.9%
222	Montgomery County	6,585.7	+3.9%
223	Tulare County	6,542.4	+7.4%
224	Anoka County	6,540.8	+2.8%
225	Lafayette Parish	6,497.6	-11%
226	Elkhart County	6,369.1	+8.5%
227	Genesee County	6,365.1	+1.5%
228	Luzerne County	6,340.7	+2.2%
229	Winnebago County	6,268.2	+1%
230	Alachua County	6,242.1	+4.4%
231	Kalamazoo County	6,233.4	+4.2%
232	Yolo County	6,155.3	+5.6%
233	Atlantic County	6,155.1	+1.6%
234	Hinds County	6,129	+1%
235	Brazoria County	6,066.4	+1.7%
236	Minnehaha County	6,044.5	+3.6%
237	Rutherford County	6,042.2	+5.4%
238	Lubbock County	6,029.9	+3.6%
239	Westmoreland County	6,009.1	+0.6%
240	Dutchess County	5,903.4	+1.3%
241	Ottawa County	5,884.2	+4.8%
242	Cass County	5,869.7	+1.9%
243	Davis County	5,866.6	+5.8%
244	St. Joseph County	5,847.2	+4.1%
245	Richmond County	5,837.7	+1.5%
246	Midland County	5,783.1	-7.9%
247	Olmsted County	5,729.5	+4.6%
248	Richmond County	5,729.5	+3.8%
249	Buncombe County	5,694.8	+5.3%
250	Newport News city	5,665.6	-2.8%

Showing the top 250 of 3080. The Excel download has every row.

Other periods

About this ranking

Total wages and salaries paid to employees for jobs located in a place, including tips, bonuses and pay in kind, before deductions, in millions of current US dollars. United States: Bureau of Economic Analysis regional accounts, table SAINC4 line 50 for the nation and states and CAINC4 line 50 for counties.

Counted where the jobs are, not where the workers live, so places with many commuters coming in can pay more in wages than their residents receive in personal income (the District of Columbia does). Excludes employer contributions to pensions, insurance and social security, and the income of the self-employed.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. 11 counties with data in other periods have no value for 2016 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC4.zip. 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 Economic Analysis. (2026). CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents (US counties by wages and salaries paid, 2016) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC4.zip

MLA 9

CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents, US counties by wages and salaries paid, 2016. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 5 Feb. 2026, https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC4.zip. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/wages-and-salaries/us-counties?period=2016. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2026. CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. US counties by wages and salaries paid, 2016. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC4.zip. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/wages-and-salaries/us-counties?period=2016.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (2026) CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents, US counties by wages and salaries paid, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC4.zip, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/wages-and-salaries/us-counties?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{bureau_us_counties_by_wages_2016,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis}},
  title = {{CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents: US counties by wages and salaries paid, 2016}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC4.zip},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/wages-and-salaries/us-counties?period=2016. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC4.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
TI  - CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents: US counties by wages and salaries paid, 2016
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/05
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC4.zip
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/wages-and-salaries/us-counties?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/wages-and-salaries/us-counties?period=2016.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC4.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which county has the highest wages and salaries paid?

New York County, with $287.22 billion in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Which county has the lowest wages and salaries paid?

Loving County, with $2.19 million in 2016.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, CAINC4: personal income by major component, wages and salaries (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 11 counties have no value for 2016 and are not ranked.