Come what may with the U.S. economy, Colorado’s northern Front Range appears to have some relative momentum when it comes to hiring and pay hikes, according to .
Boulder County ranked fourth in the country among large U.S. counties for the year-over-year increase in weekly wages in the first quarter at 7.5 percent. Jefferson County wasn’t far behind, with a 6.7 percent gain in weekly wages that ranked seventh overall.
San Francisco County had the biggest wage gain in the first quarter at 10.2 percent, followed by Bay County, Fla, at 9.3 percent. At the other extreme, Elkhart County, Ind., a hub for recreation vehicle manufacturing, suffered a 7.5 percent drop in average weekly wages, while Olmstead County, Minn., home to a Mayo Clinic in Rochester, was down 5.1 percent.
When it comes to the largest year-over-year percentage increase in employment, Colorado’s Adams County ranked fourth in the U.S. with a 4 percent gain in March.
Midland County, Texas, led the nation with a 5.9 percent increase. Midland is a key hub for the oil drilling boom taking place in the Permian Basin.