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The best paying counties in the USA
Here's where workers can earn the most.
August 8, 2005: 12:43 PM EDT
By Les Christie, CNN/Money staff writer

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  Top of page

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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