Employment increased in half of Georgia’s 12 largest counties between March 2024 and March 2025, according to new data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Henry County experienced the highest year-over-year employment growth at 1.4 percent, while Clayton County saw the steepest decline with a drop of 2.3 percent.
Fulton County had the largest number of employees among these counties, with 944,900 people employed as of March 2025. Collectively, these 12 counties represented nearly 59 percent of all covered jobs in Georgia during this period. Nationally, large counties—those with average annual employment levels of at least 75,000 in 2024—accounted for over 73 percent of total covered employment.
Average weekly wages rose in eleven out of the twelve largest Georgia counties over the year. DeKalb County recorded the most significant wage increase at 6.4 percent. Wage increases in other major counties ranged from just above zero to more than five percent; Muscogee was the only county among them to see a decrease in average weekly wages, falling by one percent.
Three large Georgia counties reported average weekly wages higher than the national figure of $1,589. In Fulton County, average weekly earnings reached $2,284—the highest among large Georgia counties—while Henry County posted an average wage of $1,018.
For smaller Georgia counties—defined as those with fewer than 75,000 employees—wage and employment data are also available from BLS sources. Of these small counties, Burke had the highest reported average weekly wage at $2,054 and Clay had the lowest at $655.
Across all Georgia’s 159 counties, there was considerable variation in pay levels: forty-four reported an average weekly wage below $875; forty-two fell between $875 and $949; twenty-four were between $950 and $1,024; seventeen were between $1,025 and $1,099; and thirty-two registered wages above $1,100 per week.
The full report includes additional tables detailing state-level QCEW data and further information on methodology is accessible through BLS resources such as their technical notes and website for Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (https://www.bls.gov/cew/).
The next release covering second quarter data is scheduled for December 3, 2025.
“Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that Henry County had the largest over-the-year increase in employment, with a gain of 1.4 percent.”
