What does this measure?

The average annual salary paid to workers in each economic sector.

Why is this important?

Salaries are a gauge of overall economic health and a measure of the degree to which employees are sharing in the prosperity of a community or specific economic sector. They also indicate the vitality of specific sectors and the demand for workers in those sectors.

How is our county doing?

Yearly salaries in Essex County averaged $71,200 in 2021. The highest paid sectors in the county were Financial Activities ($111,300), Information ($110,200) and Manufacturing ($103,800). The lowest paid sector was Leisure and Hospitality ($29,200). This was similar to the state and nation, where the Financial Activities ($165,300 and $114,900, respectively) and Information sectors ($150,700 and $147,700, respectively) were the two highest earning sectors.

How do we compare to similar counties?

Essex County's overall average salary was below the comparison counties. Middlesex, MA had the highest ($106,100), followed by Westchester, NY ($88,600) and Lake County, IL ($86,600). The highest paid sectors were similar across all the counties, though a few of the counties had very high salaries in individual sectors: Financial Activities in Westchester, NY ($154,200) and Information in Middlesex ($188,400).

Notes about the data

Data have been converted to 2021 dollars. Industries in which most of the workforce is full time (e.g., Manufacturing) will appear to pay significantly higher wages than ones that employ many part-timers (e.g., Retail or Leisure and Hospitality).