NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
New York County, better known as Manhattan, has the best-paid workers among the 50 U.S. counties with the most businesses, according to a new report from the Census Bureau.
The release, which covered data through March 12, 2003, reported that the average annual payroll per employee in Manhattan during 2003 was $73,032. That was 14.6 percent higher than the next highest paid county, Silicon Valley's Santa Clara County, where the average worker earned $63,704 a year.
Los Angeles workers were paid much less than those in New York, earning just $38,715. Still, the total payroll there exceeded $147 billion, which just nosed out Manhattan for first place among counties. Los Angeles made up for low wages with sheer numbers; the county employed more than 3.8 million workers, 1.8 million more than Manhattan and nearly 1.5 million more than second place Cook County, Chicago.
Kings County, New York, better known as Brooklyn, had dramatically lower earnings than its neighboring borough just across the East River. Brooklyn workers earned an average of just $32,407.
That still was more than workers earned in Riverside California, east of Los Angeles, where the average wage was just $28,809, the lowest among the 50 counties with the most business establishments in the United States.
Calculator: Compare cost of living in major cities
BEST PAYING COUNTIES The nation's largest counties and payroll per employee |
1 |
New York, NY |
$73,032 |
2 |
Santa Clara, CA |
$63,704 |
3 |
Fairfield, CT |
$57,940 |
4 |
San Francisco, CA |
$55,737 |
5 |
Fairfax, VA |
$53,214 |
6 |
King, WA |
$49,432 |
7 |
Middlesex, MA |
$49,006 |
8 |
Westchester, NY |
$48,235 |
9 |
Fulton, GA |
$47,583 |
10 |
Bergen, NJ |
$47,136 |
11 |
Montgomery, MD |
$46,290 |
12 |
Alameda, CA |
$45,665 |
13 |
Montgomery, PA |
$45,607 |
14 |
Oakland, MI |
$45,376 |
15 |
Hennepin, MN |
$45,282 |
16 |
Dallas, TX |
$44,158 |
17 |
Cook, IL |
$43,371 |
18 |
Du Page, IL |
$41,952 |
19 |
Wayne, MI |
$41,607 |
20 |
Harris, TX |
$41,194 |
21 |
Orange, CA |
$40,367 |
22 |
Mecklenburg, NC |
$40,363 |
23 |
Philadelphia, PA |
$39,762 |
24 |
Nassau, NY |
$39,761 |
25 |
Los Angeles, CA |
$38,715 |
|
|
26 |
Marion, IN |
$38,384 |
27 |
Travis, TX |
$38,309 |
28 |
Suffolk, NY |
$37,788 |
29 |
San Diego, CA |
$37,666 |
30 |
Cuyahoga, OH |
$37,575 |
31 |
Hamilton, OH |
$37,401 |
32 |
St. Louis, MO |
$37,098 |
33 |
Allegheny, PA |
$37,074 |
34 |
Hillsborough, FL |
$36,733 |
35 |
Tarrant, TX |
$36,242 |
36 |
Queens, NY |
$36,050 |
37 |
Franklin, OH |
$35,835 |
38 |
Sacramento, CA |
$35,597 |
39 |
Palm Beach, FL |
$34,935 |
40 |
Maricopa, AZ |
$34,655 |
41 |
Miami-Dade, FL |
$33,460 |
42 |
Salt Lake, UT |
$33,438 |
43 |
Broward, FL |
$33,034 |
44 |
Kings, NY |
$32,407 |
45 |
Clark, NV |
$32,009 |
46 |
Orange, FL |
$31,586 |
47 |
Pinellas, FL |
$31,392 |
48 |
Bexar, TX |
$30,462 |
49 |
San Bernardino, CA |
$30,324 |
50 |
Riverside, CA |
$28,809 |
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