Los Angeles County recorded $818.5 billion in personal income in 2024, while the broader Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area had 6.29 million nonfarm wage-and-salary jobs in August 2026. Together, these measures show the scale of a regional economy whose industries, labor market and housing conditions vary substantially by geography and measurement period.
Contents
- Economic scale and outlook
- Labor force and unemployment
- Industry employment mix
- Occupational wages and employment shares
- Businesses, payroll and household income
- Population, housing and consumer activity
Economic scale and outlook
The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Los Angeles County personal income of $818.5 billion in current dollars for 2024. This is a county-level income measure and should not be confused with the metropolitan labor and employment series used elsewhere in this article. BEA, Gross Domestic Product by County and Personal Income by County, 2024
The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation reported that Los Angeles County real GDP grew 3.4% in 2024. Its forecast called for slower real GDP growth of 2.1% in 2025 and 1.3% in 2026. The same forecast projected nonfarm payroll growth of 0.7% in 2025 and 0.2% in 2026.
| Los Angeles County measure | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real GDP growth | 3.4% | 2.1% forecast | 1.3% forecast |
| Nonfarm payroll growth | — | 0.7% forecast | 0.2% forecast |
| Unemployment rate | 5.7% | 6.1% forecast | — |
The unemployment figures in this table are also from the LAEDC forecast report: 5.7% for 2024 and 6.1% projected for 2025. The 2025 and 2026 GDP, payroll and unemployment figures are projections, not completed-year measurements. LAEDC, 2025 Economic Forecast Report
Labor force and unemployment
The BLS Economy at a Glance series covers the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA, which includes Los Angeles and Orange counties. In August 2026 preliminary figures, the metropolitan civilian labor force was 6,592.4 thousand people. Employment stood at 6,274.2 thousand, while 318.1 thousand people were unemployed. The unemployment rate was 4.8%.
The same August 2026 preliminary release counted 6,289.1 thousand nonfarm wage-and-salary jobs. Because labor-force employment and nonfarm jobs are different measures, they should not be treated as interchangeable: one describes people and the other describes jobs. The August employment counts are in thousands and are not seasonally adjusted. BLS, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA Economy at a Glance
Annual average unemployment rates provide a longer view of the MSA labor market:
- 2021: 8.2%
- 2022: 4.6%
- 2023: 4.7%
- 2024: 5.3%
- 2025: 5.3%
These annual averages come from the BLS large-metropolitan-area series and use the same MSA geography. They are not directly comparable with the county-level LAEDC forecast rate without accounting for the different geography and methodology. BLS, Unemployment Rates for Large Metropolitan Areas, Annual Averages
Industry employment mix
Education and health services was the largest listed private-sector industry in the August 2026 preliminary MSA data, with 1,324.0 thousand jobs. Trade, transportation and utilities followed with 1,048.9 thousand, and professional and business services accounted for 974.2 thousand. Leisure and hospitality had 795.8 thousand jobs, while government had 731.8 thousand.
Other major industry counts were 447.2 thousand jobs in manufacturing, 303.5 thousand in financial activities, 252.6 thousand in construction, 218.6 thousand in other services and 190.4 thousand in information. All figures in this section are nonfarm wage-and-salary employment counts for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA in August 2026 preliminary data; they are not Los Angeles County-only totals.
The distribution indicates that the regional labor market is spread across health and education, logistics and trade, professional services, hospitality, government and goods-producing industries. The categories are reported as employment counts, so they describe industry size rather than total industry output or average pay. BLS, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA Economy at a Glance
Occupational wages and employment shares
The BLS occupational survey for May 2025 shows a wide range of pay and employment concentration across the Los Angeles MSA. Office and administrative support occupations represented 11.2% of MSA employment, the largest share among the listed occupations, with a mean hourly wage of $27.95. Food preparation and serving occupations represented 9.4% and had a mean hourly wage of $20.69. Healthcare support occupations represented 8.6% and had a mean hourly wage of $19.41.
Sales and related occupations accounted for 8.1% of employment at a mean hourly wage of $28.87. Transportation and material moving represented 7.8% at $26.22 per hour, while management occupations represented 7.1% at $77.12 per hour. Business and financial operations represented 7.0% at $49.32 per hour.
| Occupational group | Employment share | Mean hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| Legal | 1.1% | $85.92 |
| Management | 7.1% | $77.12 |
| Computer and mathematical | 2.8% | $62.04 |
| Healthcare practitioners and technical | 5.4% | $59.61 |
| Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media | 2.9% | $53.70 |
| Business and financial operations | 7.0% | $49.32 |
| Educational instruction and library | 5.7% | $39.74 |
| Construction and extraction | 3.0% | $37.07 |
Additional May 2025 occupational figures were $58.03 per hour for architecture and engineering occupations, which represented 1.5% of employment; $34.77 for community and social service occupations, representing 2.4%; and $32.46 for protective service occupations, representing 2.7%.
The wage figures are mean hourly wages, not median wages or guaranteed individual earnings. Employment shares describe each occupational group’s portion of MSA employment. BLS, Occupational Employment and Wages in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim — May 2025
Businesses, payroll and household income
Los Angeles County had 304,988 employer establishments in 2023. Those establishments employed 3,987,736 people and reported $299.617 billion in annual payroll. Total employment increased 2.3% from 2022 to 2023. These are county business measures and use a different reference structure from the MSA monthly jobs series.
The county also had 1,128,124 nonemployer establishments in 2023. In the 2023 reference year, Los Angeles County had 251,405 employer firms, including 64,265 female-owned employer firms and 105,739 minority-owned employer firms. Establishments, firms and nonemployer establishments are distinct Census business concepts, so the counts should not be added together.
For the 2020-2024 period, median household income in Los Angeles County was $90,112 in 2024 dollars. The Census QuickFacts measure reported that 13.3% of residents were below the poverty line for the stated income period. These figures describe household income and poverty, not the county’s aggregate personal income total. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, Los Angeles County, California
Population, housing and consumer activity
Los Angeles County’s population estimate was 9,694,934 on July 1, 2025. The estimate was 3.2% below the April 1, 2020 estimates base by July 1, 2025. The county had 3,726,923 housing units on July 1, 2025.
Housing costs were high relative to the county’s broad income measures: the median value of owner-occupied housing units was $834,200 for 2020-2024, while median gross rent was $1,954 for the same period. The Census measures use stated periods and should not be read as July 2025 point-in-time housing prices or rents.
Los Angeles County recorded 22,250 building permits in 2025. Consumer and service activity also reached substantial levels in the available Census measures: total retail sales were $213.933 billion in 2022, and health care and social assistance receipts or revenue were $113.488 billion in 2022. The sales and receipts figures are 2022 measures, while the population and housing-unit estimate is from July 1, 2025. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, Los Angeles County, California
These geography and timing distinctions matter when reading Los Angeles economy statistics. County personal income, county business activity and county housing measures describe Los Angeles County, while the BLS labor and industry figures describe the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA, including Orange County. The LAEDC figures labeled forecasts are projections for Los Angeles County rather than completed historical results.