The Current Employment Statistics survey, as a joint Federal-State undertaking, generates State and area, as well as national, statistics on employment, hours, and earnings.

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) Program is a Federal-State cooperative program between the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the California EDD’s Labor Market Information Division (LMID). The QCEW program produces a comprehensive tabulation of employment and wage information for workers covered by California Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws and Federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. The QCEW program serves as a near census of monthly employment and quarterly wage information by 6-digit industry codes from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at the national, state, and county levels. At the national level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data for nearly every NAICS industry. At the state and local area level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data down to the 6-digit NAICS industry level, if disclosure restrictions are met. In accordance with the BLS policy, data provided to the Bureau in confidence are used only for specified statistical purposes and are not published. The BLS withholds publication of Unemployment Insurance law-covered employment and wage data for any industry level when necessary to protect the identity of cooperating employers. Data from the QCEW program serve as an important input to many BLS programs. The Current Employment Statistics and the Occupational Employment Statistics programs use the QCEW data as the benchmark source for employment. The UI administrative records collected under the QCEW program serve as a sampling frame for the BLS establishment surveys. In addition, the data serve as an input to other federal and state programs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the Department of Commerce uses the QCEW data as the base for developing the wage and salary component of personal income. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and California's EDD use the QCEW data to administer the Unemployment Insurance program. The QCEW data accurately reflect the extent of coverage of California’s UI laws and are used to measure UI revenues; national, state and local area employment; and total and UI taxable wage trends. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes new QCEW data in its County Employment and Wages news release on a quarterly basis. The BLS also publishes a subset of its quarterly data through the Create Customized Tables system, and full quarterly industry detail data at all geographic levels.

Graph and download economic data for Personal Taxes: State and Local Income Taxes by Quintiles of Income Before Taxes: Highest 20 Percent (81st to 100th Percentile) (CXUSTATETAXLB0106M) from 1984 to 2023 about state & local, percentile, tax, government, personal, income, and USA.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Income (EC4)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Household income by place of residence

LAST UPDATED
January 2023

DESCRIPTION
Income reflects the median earnings of individuals and households from employment, as well as the income distribution by quintile. Income data highlight how employees are being compensated for their work on an inflation-adjusted basis.

DATA SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau: Decennial Census - https://nhgis.org
Count 4Pb (1970)
Form STF3 (1980-1990)
Form SF3a (2000)

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey - https://data.census.gov/
Form B19001 (2005-2021; household income by place of residence)
Form B19013 (2005-2021; median household income by place of residence)
Form B08521 (2005-2021; median worker earnings by place of employment)

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index - https://www.bls.gov/data/
1970-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Income derived from the decennial Census data reflects the income earned in the prior calendar year, whereas income derived from the American Community Survey (ACS) data reflects the prior 12 month period; note that this inconsistency has a minor effect on historical comparisons (see Income and Earnings Data section of the ACS General Handbook - https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/acs/acs_general_handbook_2020_ch09.pdf). ACS 1-year data is used for larger geographies – Bay counties and most metropolitan area counties – while smaller geographies rely upon 5-year rolling average data due to their smaller sample sizes. Note that 2020 data uses the 5-year estimates because the ACS did not collect 1-year data for 2020.

Quintile income for 1970-2000 is imputed from decennial Census data using methodology from the California Department of Finance. Bay Area income is the population weighted average of county-level income.

Income has been inflated using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for 2021 specific to each metro area; however, some metro areas lack metro-specific CPI data back to 1970 and therefore adjusted data uses national CPI for 1970. Note that current MSA boundaries were used for historical comparison by identifying counties included in today’s metro areas.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Income (EC4)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Household income by place of residence

LAST UPDATED
January 2023

DESCRIPTION
Income reflects the median earnings of individuals and households from employment, as well as the income distribution by quintile. Income data highlight how employees are being compensated for their work on an inflation-adjusted basis.

DATA SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau: Decennial Census - https://nhgis.org
Count 4Pb (1970)
Form STF3 (1980-1990)
Form SF3a (2000)

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey - https://data.census.gov/
Form B19001 (2005-2021; household income by place of residence)
Form B19013 (2005-2021; median household income by place of residence)
Form B08521 (2005-2021; median worker earnings by place of employment)

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index - https://www.bls.gov/data/
1970-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Income derived from the decennial Census data reflects the income earned in the prior calendar year, whereas income derived from the American Community Survey (ACS) data reflects the prior 12 month period; note that this inconsistency has a minor effect on historical comparisons (see Income and Earnings Data section of the ACS General Handbook - https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/acs/acs_general_handbook_2020_ch09.pdf). ACS 1-year data is used for larger geographies – Bay counties and most metropolitan area counties – while smaller geographies rely upon 5-year rolling average data due to their smaller sample sizes. Note that 2020 data uses the 5-year estimates because the ACS did not collect 1-year data for 2020.

Quintile income for 1970-2000 is imputed from decennial Census data using methodology from the California Department of Finance. Bay Area income is the population weighted average of county-level income.

Income has been inflated using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for 2021 specific to each metro area; however, some metro areas lack metro-specific CPI data back to 1970 and therefore adjusted data uses national CPI for 1970. Note that current MSA boundaries were used for historical comparison by identifying counties included in today’s metro areas.

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Social Security, Private & Government Retirement by Age: from Age 55 to 64 (CXURETIRINCLB0406M) from 1984 to 2023 about social, retirement, social assistance, age, tax, government, private, income, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Personal Taxes: State and Local Income Taxes by Income Before Taxes: $5,000 to $9,999 (CXUSTATETAXLB0203M) from 1984 to 2015 about state & local, tax, government, personal, income, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Personal Taxes: State and Local Income Taxes by Income Before Taxes: Total Complete Income Reporters (CXUSTATETAXLB02A2M) from 1984 to 2003 about state & local, tax, government, personal, income, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Personal Taxes: State and Local Income Taxes by Income Before Taxes: $100,000 to $119,999 (CXUSTATETAXLB0215M) from 2003 to 2015 about state & local, tax, government, personal, income, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees: Government: Federal Government in Puerto Rico (SMS72000009091000001) from Jan 1990 to Jan 2025 about federal, government, and employment.

Graph and download economic data for Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private (CES0500000003) from Mar 2006 to Feb 2025 about earnings, average, establishment survey, hours, wages, private, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees: District of Columbia Government in the District of Columbia (SMU11000009094000101A) from 2001 to 2024 about local govt, DC, government, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Social Security, Private & Government Retirement by Income Before Taxes: $10,000 to $14,999 (CXURETIRINCLB0204M) from 1984 to 2015 about social, retirement, social assistance, tax, government, private, income, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Social Security, Private & Government Retirement by Quintiles of Income Before Taxes: Incomplete Income Reports (CXURETIRINCLB01A2M) from 1984 to 2003 about social, retirement, social assistance, tax, government, private, income, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Personal Taxes: State and Local Income Taxes by Occupation: Wage and Salary Earners: Service Workers (CXUSTATETAXLB1206M) from 1984 to 2023 about state & local, occupation, salaries, workers, tax, wages, government, personal, services, income, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Manufacturing (CES3000000003) from Mar 2006 to Feb 2025 about earnings, establishment survey, hours, wages, manufacturing, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Personal Taxes: State and Local Income Taxes by Quintiles of Income Before Taxes: Incomplete Income Reports (CXUSTATETAXLB01A2M) from 1984 to 2003 about state & local, tax, government, personal, income, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Private Service-Providing (CEU0800000003) from Mar 2006 to Feb 2025 about earnings, establishment survey, hours, wages, private, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Personal Taxes: State and Local Income Taxes by Quintiles of Income Before Taxes: Total Complete Income Reporters (CXUSTATETAXLB01A1M) from 1984 to 2003 about state & local, tax, government, personal, income, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Personal Taxes: State and Local Income Taxes by Income Before Taxes: $70,000 to $99,999 (CXUSTATETAXLB0220M) from 2015 to 2023 about state & local, tax, government, personal, income, and USA.