Three kinds of county
The federal Office of Management and Budget groups counties into metropolitan areas (built around an urban core of at least 50,000 people) and micropolitan areas (a core of 10,000 to 50,000), using the July 2023 delineation. Counties in neither are outside any core-based area. In Florida the split is very uneven:
| Counties | Residents | Jobs | Share of jobs | Average pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro counties | Counties45 | Residents22,226,073 | Jobs7,913,567 | Share of jobs98.2% | Average pay$59,129 |
| Micro counties | Counties7 | Residents365,668 | Jobs94,617 | Share of jobs1.2% | Average pay$47,161 |
| Outside any area | Counties15 | Residents313,127 | Jobs52,518 | Share of jobs0.7% | Average pay$42,706 |
The 45 metro counties include outlying counties tied to a core by commuting, not only the cities themselves, so “metro” here covers places like Levy, Wakulla, Washington as well as Miami-Dade.
Measured by residents the picture is the same. Metro counties are home to 97.0% of Floridians, so the micro and rural groups together cover fewer than one resident in thirty. That small share is the reason county averages for the state as a whole say little about them, and why this guide looks at the groups separately.
The pay gap
Taken together, metro counties pay $16,423 more per job than counties outside any area, 1.38 times as much. Most of that comes from the largest counties. The middle metro county pays $49,784, against $44,898 for the middle micro county and $40,769 for the middle county outside any area.
The ranges overlap a good deal. 7 metro counties pay less than the $42,706 average of the counties outside any area; the lowest is Levy County at $37,154. At the other end, the rural group contains the state's highest-paying county, Hamilton County, at $73,675. Leave it out and the other 14 counties outside any area average $41,632.
The micro areas
Florida's six micropolitan areas cover seven counties, each area built around a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Together they have 94,617 private jobs, fewer than many single metro counties.
| Micro area | Counties | Jobs | Average pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key West-Key Largo, FL | CountiesMonroe | Jobs37,134 | Average pay$48,056 |
| Lake City, FL | CountiesColumbia | Jobs20,689 | Average pay$51,200 |
| Palatka, FL | CountiesPutnam | Jobs13,231 | Average pay$43,701 |
| Clewiston, FL | CountiesGlades, Hendry | Jobs9,302 | Average pay$45,054 |
| Okeechobee, FL | CountiesOkeechobee | Jobs7,980 | Average pay$42,496 |
| Arcadia, FL | CountiesDeSoto | Jobs6,281 | Average pay$44,898 |
Monroe County added 5,390 of the group's 10,122 new jobs since 2019 (53.3%), and the hotel and restaurant share is lifted by Monroe County, where the sector holds 43.2% of jobs. With so few counties, one county can move the whole group.
Counties outside any area
The 15 counties outside any metro or micro area are home to 313,127 people, 1.4% of Florida's residents, and 52,518 private jobs. The largest by jobs is Jackson County with 9,841; the smallest is Lafayette County with 687. 13 of them have fewer than 5,000 jobs.
Their largest industries are spread out: health care and social assistance leads in six, retail trade leads in three, manufacturing leads in three, hotels and restaurants leads in two, transportation and warehousing leads in one. That variety is part of why averages for the group mean less than they seem. A county page, or a direct comparison of two counties, says more than the group figure.
Jobs per resident
Rural counties have far fewer private jobs per resident: 168 per 1,000 outside any area against 356 in metro counties. Commuting plays a part, since CBP counts jobs where the business is and residents where they live, and government jobs are not in these counts at all. The plainest difference is the number of businesses: 16.4 establishments per 1,000 residents outside any area, 28.3 in metro counties.
| Jobs per 1,000 residents | Businesses per 1,000 | Jobs since 2019 | Residents since 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro counties | Jobs per 1,000 residents356 | Businesses per 1,00028.3 | Jobs since 2019+9.0% | Residents since 2019+6.8% |
| Micro counties | Jobs per 1,000 residents259 | Businesses per 1,00025.6 | Jobs since 2019+12.0% | Residents since 2019+2.6% |
| Outside any area | Jobs per 1,000 residents168 | Businesses per 1,00016.4 | Jobs since 2019+7.7% | Residents since 2019+1.4% |
The small-business share hardly differs. In the middle county of each group, between 89.1% and 90.5% of establishments have fewer than 20 employees.
Growth since 2019
Between March 2019 and March 2023, jobs in metro counties grew 9.0%, in micro counties 12.0% and outside any area 7.7%. Population grew more slowly in the micro and rural counties (2.6% and 1.4%) than in metro counties (6.8%), so job growth outran population growth in all three groups. Small bases make the rural figures sensitive to a few employers; the growth guide looks at individual counties.
Different industry mixes
The groups lean on different industries. Shares below are of each group's jobs and use only published county cells, so they slightly understate industries that are often withheld in small counties.
| Share of jobs | Metro counties | Micro counties | Outside any area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health care & social assistance | Metro counties15.9% | Micro counties14.8% | Outside any area17.1% |
| Retail trade | Metro counties14.1% | Micro counties17.7% | Outside any area20.5% |
| Hotels & restaurants | Metro counties12.9% | Micro counties24.9% | Outside any area12.1% |
| Construction | Metro counties6.9% | Micro counties8.5% | Outside any area6.6% |
| Manufacturing | Metro counties4.4% | Micro counties5.4% | Outside any area12.4% |
| Professional & technical services | Metro counties7.4% | Micro counties3.1% | Outside any area2.6% |
| Finance & insurance | Metro counties5.2% | Micro counties2.1% | Outside any area2.5% |
Professional services and finance, two of the better-paid sectors, are concentrated in metro counties. Micro counties lean hardest on hotels and restaurants. Counties outside any area rely more on retail and manufacturing. To compare a rural and a metro county directly, try Jackson and Marion in the comparer.
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
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (county and state files). www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2023/
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2022 and 2019 (comparison years). www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/
- U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, county totals Vintage 2024 (2022, 2023) and Vintage 2019 (2019). www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/
- U.S. Census Bureau / OMB, Core Based Statistical Area delineation file, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01). www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/metro-micro/geographies/reference-files/2023/delineation-files/list1_2023.xlsx