What does this measure?

Employers grouped by the number of people employed, and presented as a share of businesses with employees.

Why is this important?

Viewing businesses, or employers, by size gives insight into the composition of a community's economic profile. An area dominated by large employers may have different priorities, strengths and challenges from an area with more small or medium employers, for example.

How is our county doing?

In 2020, over half (55%) of businesses in Essex County employed 1-4 people, 19% employed 5-9 people, 12% employed 10-19 people and the remaining 14% employed 20 people or more. Only 2% of employers, fewer than 500 businesses, had 100 or more employees. This is on par with the employer distribution throughout the state and nation and represents very little change for Essex County since 2000.

How do we compare to similar counties?

Essex County had a similar distribution as Middlesex, MA across employer sizes in 2020. Differences were seen in Lake, IL and Westchester, NY, however, as both had greater percentages within the 1-4 employee range (61% and 64%, respectively) and lower shares within the 5-9 employee range (15% and 16%respectively).

Notes about the data

Data is from the U.S. Census Bureau's County Business Patterns. Not included are self-employed individuals, employees of private households, railroad employees, agricultural production employees and most government employees.