Employment in Mississippi’s two largest counties, Hinds and Harrison, increased between March 2024 and March 2025, according to a report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee stated that “Hinds County had the larger over-the-year increase in employment (+0.3 percent).”
In March 2025, Hinds County reported an employment level of 109,200, making it the county with higher employment among the two largest counties in the state. Combined, these two counties represented 17.1 percent of all covered employment in Mississippi. Nationally, large counties—defined as those with at least 75,000 average annual employees—accounted for about 73.4 percent of total covered employment across the United States.
Both Hinds and Harrison counties saw their average weekly wages rise over the year. Hinds County experienced a wage increase of 5.2 percent while Harrison County’s wages rose by 3.7 percent.
Despite these increases, both counties’ average weekly wages remained below the national average of $1,589 for this period. The average weekly wage was $1,200 in Hinds County and $990 in Harrison County.
Data on employment and wage levels are also available for Mississippi’s smaller counties—those with fewer than 75,000 employees on average during 2024. Among these smaller counties, Claiborne reported the highest average weekly wage at $1,607 while Issaquena recorded the lowest at $601.
Of all 82 Mississippi counties analyzed during this period: ten reported average weekly wages under $775; twenty-three had wages between $775 and $849; twenty-two ranged from $850 to $924; ten fell between $925 and $999; and seventeen had average weekly wages of at least $1,000.
Additional details about quarterly employment and wage data can be found through resources provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on its Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages website (https://www.bls.gov/cew/).
The next release covering second quarter data for 2025 is scheduled for December 3, 2025.
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