September 21, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

New York County tops in pay in 1997

Workers in New York County, N.Y.—comprised entirely of the borough of Manhattan—had the highest average annual pay by far among all of the largest counties in 1997.

[Chart data—TXT]

Average pay in Manhattan was $58,791 in 1997, well above the average of $49,867 for the county with the next highest pay level, Fairfield, Connecticut. Other counties in the top five in average pay were Santa Clara, California, at a level of $48,702, the District of Columbia at $46,775, and Arlington, Virginia, at $46,145.

The five large counties with the lowest pay in 1997 were all much below the national average of $30,336. The lowest level of average annual pay was reported in Horry County, S.C. ($19,527), followed by the counties of Hidalgo, Texas ($19,779), Cameron, Texas ($20,041), Yakima, Washington ($20,716), and Tulare, California. ($20,770).

The BLS Covered Employment and Wages program produced these data. Pay data presented here are for all workers covered by State and Federal unemployment insurance programs. Find more information on pay in large counties in 1997 in "Employment and Average Annual Pay for Large Counties, 1997," news release USDL 99-256. The largest counties are defined as those with covered employment levels of 75,000 or more in 1997.