Picture courtesy of prolinkstaffing.com

MIAMI – Miami-Dade County recorded the highest employment growth in the first quarter of 2025, ranking among the nation’s 10 largest counties, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.

The county’s employment rate rose 1.5 percent which outpaces the 0.4 percent year-over-year increase nationwide.

Among the 10 largest counties, employment rose in six of the ten largest counties: Miami-Dade County, FL (1.5%), New York County, NY (0.9%), Dallas County, TX (0.6%), Harris County, TX (0.5%), King County, WA (0.3%), and Cook County, IL (0.2%).

Employment was unchanged in Maricopa County, AZ. Employment fell Orange County, CA (-0.3%), San Diego, CA (-0.5%), and Los Angeles, CA (-0.5%).

Expanding the coverage to the nation’s 372 largest counties, Loudoun County, Virginia had the largest increase (3.4%).

All Southeast Florida counties had faster employment growth compared to nationally (0.4%) led by St. Lucie County (2.1%), followed by Martin County (1.6%), Miami-Dade County (1.5%), Palm Beach County (1.1%), and Broward County (0.5%).

Southeast Florida’s sustained employment growth underpins a healthy demand for housing and commercial real estate especially as mortgage rates start to decline, with a high likelihood of a rate cut beginning in September 2025 as the Federal Reserve Board navigates towards avoiding a recession while seeking to keep inflation at 2%.