15 states with the highest health care and social assistance employment share

A site-selection note treated the top share as the place healthcare workers earn the most.

West Virginia's health care and social assistance employment is 21.3% of all jobs, and average annual pay in that industry is $62,138.

New York is second on the share at 20.1%, with pay of $67,100 and industry employment of 1,949,451.

Massachusetts, fifth on the share at 18.3%, pays $73,713.

The U.S. share is 15.7%.

The lowest share in the file is 9.9% in the District of Columbia.

This is NAICS 62 for 2024, which includes social assistance, so it is wider than a list of clinical occupations.

A high share means the industry is a large piece of the state's jobs.

It does not mean the offer should be copied from the top row.

Each state

Ranked table

Swipe the table sideways. The same figures are in the blocks above.

Takeaways

• Pennsylvania is third at 19.2% with pay of $64,839. Connecticut is fourth at 18.4% with pay of $68,312.
• Ohio closes the fifteen at 16.9% with pay of $63,907, still above the U.S. share.
• New Mexico's share is 17.3% with pay of $57,181, a reminder that share and pay move apart.
• The U.S. industry employment behind the 15.7% share is 24,311,493, out of all-industry employment of 154,990,441.

For recruiters

• Use the share when you are asking how much of a state's work is this industry.
• Use the pay column when you are writing an offer. West Virginia's lead is not a pay lead.

FAQ

Are these posted wages or open jobs?

No. The table is a government survey or a designation file.

What should a recruiter do first?

Follow the recruiter note on this page.

Source: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, NAICS 62 and all industries, 2024 annual average.

Related hiring pages

Methodology

BLS QCEW 2024 annual averages. NAICS 62 employment and pay sum the ownership rows that the file publishes (federal, state government, local government, and private; a state is absent here if the private row was missing). All-industry employment is ownership code 0. The share is NAICS 62 employment divided by all-industry employment. The U.S. share is 15.7 percent, from NAICS 62 employment of 24,311,493 and all-industry employment of 154,990,441. The table shows the 15 highest shares. The lowest share is 9.9 percent in District of Columbia. NAICS 62 includes social assistance, so it is wider than OEWS healthcare occupations. The table ranks published cells. It is not a forecast of hiring difficulty and it is not a tally of openings posted by employers. Where a state has hiring pages, the state name links to those pages. A state with no metro on the hiring grid still appears when the source file publishes the figure, and that row has no hiring link. Rounded figures in the prose: $62,138 is stated as about $62.1K. Rounded figures in the prose: $63,907 is stated as about $63.9K. $67,100 is stated as about $67.1K. $73,713 is stated as about $73.7K.

Sources

• BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, NAICS 62 and all industries · 2024 annual average