economy_wages_county_year
QCEW county-total wages: average_annual_pay, average_weekly_wage (D1). Tier A.
tier aadmin_record
overview
overview
All 3,221 counties, 2024 only (single-year snapshot). QCEW total wages with derived average pay.
current vintage — 2024
history — Source covers 1990-present; only 2024 currently loaded
provenance
source & licensing
authority
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
dataset
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) — county totals (2024)
source url
methodology
license
Public domain (U.S. Federal Government work)
citation
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. QCEW - county totals, 2024.
schema
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| average_annual_pay | int64 · dollars (nominal) | Average annual pay per covered worker in the county across all industries, sourced from BLS QCEW. Higher values indicate greater average worker compensation. |
| average_weekly_wage | int64 · dollars (nominal) | Average weekly wage per covered worker in the county across all industries, sourced from BLS QCEW. Higher values indicate greater average weekly compensation. |
| country_idkey | string | ISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables).Part of primary key. |
| county_idkey | string | 5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Part of primary key. Joins dim.counties on county_id. |
| state_idkey | string | 2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Part of primary key. Joins dim.states on state_id. |
| total_annual_wages_thousands | int64 | Total annual wages in thousands of dollars (BLS QCEW source is in dollars; divided by 1000). |
| yearkey | int64 | Reference year of the observation.Part of primary key. |
relationships
joins
primary key
county_id, state_id, country_id, year
common joins
dim.geographies on county_id
economy_employment_levels_county_year on (county_id, year)
economy_industry_wages_county_year_naics on (county_id, year)
usage
how to use this table
method
County-total wages summed from QCEW employer reports. average_annual_pay = total_wages / annual_average_employment.
do not use for
Wage growth or any time-series/year-over-year analysis (single 2024 vintage loaded); hourly wages or compensation; benefits or non-wage income; self-employed earnings.
known issues
Single-year snapshot: only 2024 is loaded though QCEW history runs to 1990 - not usable for wage-growth/time-series analysis. Small-county suppression. Average pay can shift when establishment mix changes.
last updated · Jul 7, 2026