The Local U.S. Economy: ZIP-Level Income, Jobs and Industry

The American Community Survey is not a real-time labor market indicator — that's the BLS Current Population Survey. What ACS gives us instead is a structural, geographically granular view: who is in the labor force, who is employed, what industries they work in, and what they earn. Together these variables describe the long-run shape of a local economy, ZIP by ZIP.

City Zip Compare uses ACS Table B23025 (employment status), B19013 (median household income), B19301 (per capita income), B24010 (occupation by sex), and C24050 (industry by occupation) as the core economic backbone of every place page.

Civilian labor force participation in the U.S. was roughly 63.4% in ACS5 2023 — meaning about 63 of every 100 adults aged 16+ were either working or actively looking for work. The participation rate is higher in college towns and prime-working-age suburban ZIPs, and lower in retirement-heavy ZIPs (large parts of Florida, Arizona, and the Carolinas) where a large share of residents are over 65.

Employment-to-population ratios within the labor force are remarkably high in tight metro labor markets and meaningfully lower in distressed rural counties. When you see a ZIP with low labor force participation AND elevated unemployment, you are looking at structural distress — not a temporary cyclical downturn.

Educational attainment (ACS Table B15003) is the strongest single predictor of median household income at the ZIP level. ZIPs where 50%+ of adults hold a bachelor's degree consistently report median household incomes well above the $78,538 national figure. ZIPs with bachelor's-attainment under 20% rarely cross the national median.

This is the college wage premium working at the geographic scale: educated workers cluster, employers chase them, and the resulting concentration drives both wages and housing costs. It is the single most important pattern in U.S. economic geography over the last 30 years.

Industry composition (Table C24050) varies dramatically by region. Finance and professional services concentrate in NYC, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, and the D.C. corridor. Tech is heavily concentrated in the Bay Area, Seattle, Austin and the Research Triangle. Manufacturing remains a meaningful share of employment across the upper Midwest and parts of the South. Healthcare and education together are the largest single employment category in most metros, often called "eds and meds."

Regional specialization matters because it determines local wage growth and resilience. Metros tied to a single industry are more volatile; metros with diversified industry mix tend to weather recessions better.

Every ZIP, city, county and state page on City Zip Compare reports median household income, per-capita income, labor force participation and educational attainment from ACS5. The /compare tool puts two places side-by-side. The /rankings hub ranks all 50 states across each economic metric. Use these together to build a full picture rather than relying on any single number.