CountyPayrolls

Where Florida added jobs between 2019 and 2023

By Madison BrooksPublished Data: County Business Patterns 2023

The 67 Florida counties had 9.0% more private jobs in March 2023 than in March 2019, 665,114 in all. The middle county grew 9.7%. Gulf County grew fastest (+64.3%, from a small base), and three counties ended with fewer jobs than in 2019: Calhoun County, Washington County, Union County.

Two growth rates for Florida

Florida's CBP total grew 12.7% over the same four years, faster than the 67 counties combined. The difference is the statewide records that have no county (see how to read the figures): they went from 1,464,454 jobs in 2019 to 1,927,806 in 2023, up 31.6%. County comparisons on this site use the county-located figure.

Most of those statewide records are in administrative and support services, where 76.2% of Florida's jobs have no county. That sector grew 21.4% statewide. All told, 41.1% of Florida's headline job growth since 2019 cannot be placed in any county. When a news report quotes Florida job growth from CBP, it is worth checking which of the two totals it means.

Fastest-growing counties

Six of the ten fastest growers have fewer than 5,000 jobs, where a few hundred new jobs make a large percentage. Gulf County went from 1,691 jobs to 2,779; its biggest gains were in hotels and restaurants (268 to 686), retail trade (302 to 565), health care and social assistance (212 to 404). Among counties with at least 50,000 jobs, St. Johns County (+23.9%), Polk County (+18.6%), Pasco County (+18.3%) grew fastest.

CountyJobs 2019Jobs 2023ChangeResidents
Gulf CountyJobs 20191,691Jobs 20232,779Change+64.3%Residents+15.5%
Glades CountyJobs 2019909Jobs 20231,250Change+37.5%Residents−7.0%
Dixie CountyJobs 20191,334Jobs 20231,809Change+35.6%Residents+2.4%
Jefferson CountyJobs 20191,558Jobs 20231,979Change+27.0%Residents+9.1%
St. Johns CountyJobs 201964,619Jobs 202380,082Change+23.9%Residents+21.5%
Flagler CountyJobs 201918,774Jobs 202322,871Change+21.8%Residents+14.6%
Walton CountyJobs 201922,400Jobs 202326,994Change+20.5%Residents+16.6%
Holmes CountyJobs 20191,788Jobs 20232,142Change+19.8%Residents+0.2%
Sumter CountyJobs 201926,554Jobs 202331,813Change+19.8%Residents+14.9%
Wakulla CountyJobs 20193,656Jobs 20234,357Change+19.2%Residents+8.1%

The residents column shows that fast job growth often went with fast population growth, but the link is loose. Glades County added jobs while losing residents.

Jobs and residents

Across all 67 counties, jobs grew faster than residents in 52. The 67 counties had 344 private jobs per 1,000 residents in 2019 and 352 in 2023. Where residents grew much faster than jobs, the county became more of a place people live than a place they work, at least as far as private employers go. The widest gaps run that way in Citrus County (residents +11.5%, jobs +2.8%), Union County (residents +5.0%, jobs −1.4%), Lake County (residents +16.2%, jobs +10.7%).

The number of business establishments moved too. Across the 67 counties it rose 12.4%, more than the number of jobs, so the average establishment got slightly smaller: 12.9 employees in 2019 and 12.5 in 2023. The county with the fastest rise in establishments was Gulf County (+32.8%).

Slowest-growing counties

Six of the ten slowest growers have fewer than 20,000 jobs, and eight of them still gained residents over the four years. The list also holds three larger counties, Okaloosa County, Alachua County, Leon County, each with more than 60,000 jobs; their growth was slow in percentage terms on a large base.

CountyJobs 2019Jobs 2023ChangeResidents
Calhoun CountyJobs 20191,761Jobs 20231,657Change−5.9%Residents−4.3%
Washington CountyJobs 20194,186Jobs 20234,041Change−3.5%Residents+0.3%
Union CountyJobs 20191,609Jobs 20231,586Change−1.4%Residents+5.0%
Taylor CountyJobs 20194,652Jobs 20234,673Change+0.5%Residents+0.9%
Jackson CountyJobs 20199,643Jobs 20239,841Change+2.0%Residents+5.0%
Okaloosa CountyJobs 201963,186Jobs 202364,766Change+2.5%Residents+4.2%
Citrus CountyJobs 201930,318Jobs 202331,162Change+2.8%Residents+11.5%
Alachua CountyJobs 2019100,237Jobs 2023103,368Change+3.1%Residents+7.4%
Leon CountyJobs 2019103,869Jobs 2023107,646Change+3.6%Residents+1.9%
Hamilton CountyJobs 20191,696Jobs 20231,760Change+3.8%Residents−4.9%

Over the shorter span from 2022 to 2023, six counties lost jobs: Citrus, Franklin, Lafayette, Madison, Taylor, Washington. In counties with a few thousand jobs, one closure or opening can swing these figures, and the employment counts carry Census noise.

The largest counties

Together the eight largest counties added 391,624 jobs, 58.9% of the 67-county increase. In percentage terms only three of them grew faster than the middle county: Hillsborough County, Duval County, Lee County. Miami-Dade County, the largest, grew 6.0% and still added 59,478 jobs, more than any other county.

CountyJobs since 2019Since 2022Average pay since 2019
Miami-Dade CountyJobs since 2019+6.0%Since 2022+4.6%Average pay since 2019+29.4%
Orange CountyJobs since 2019+9.0%Since 2022+3.0%Average pay since 2019+19.6%
Broward CountyJobs since 2019+6.5%Since 2022+4.2%Average pay since 2019+19.2%
Hillsborough CountyJobs since 2019+10.9%Since 2022+6.2%Average pay since 2019+28.2%
Palm Beach CountyJobs since 2019+7.6%Since 2022+2.9%Average pay since 2019+30.4%
Duval CountyJobs since 2019+10.1%Since 2022+2.5%Average pay since 2019+25.6%
Pinellas CountyJobs since 2019+6.4%Since 2022+2.4%Average pay since 2019+19.9%
Lee CountyJobs since 2019+13.8%Since 2022+3.8%Average pay since 2019+28.7%

Average pay is shown in nominal dollars. Across the 67 counties the middle county's average pay rose 22.6% between 2019 and 2023; the range runs from 13.1% in Santa Rosa County to 53.5% in Hamilton County. These figures are not adjusted for inflation.

Which industries grew

Statewide, transportation and warehousing and finance and insurance grew fastest, both by about a quarter. Only the information sector and agriculture, forestry and fishing shrank. Hotels and restaurants, the 4th-largest industry by jobs, ended 4.2% above 2019, and retail only 5.2%. These are the two lowest-paid of the 19 sectors, and because both grew well below the 12.7% total, their combined share of Florida jobs fell from 23.7% to 22.0%.

Change in Florida employees by industry, March 2019 to March 2023 (state file, including statewide records).

To see how one county's industries moved, open its county page: the ledger lists jobs since 2019 for every published industry. The comparer puts any two counties' growth side by side.

Related

Data as of: 2023 County Business Patterns (released 2025); population July 1, 2023 (Vintage 2024 estimates); retrieved October 27, 2026. Dollar amounts are nominal (not adjusted for inflation). Statistics for general information, not career, business or investment advice.

Sources