Real-time labor market data · July 2026
Orange County's job market, by the numbers
Nonfarm payrolls dipped in July as schools broke for summer, but the twelve-month trend tells a steadier story: Orange County keeps adding jobs faster than it loses them, and its unemployment rate remains well under both the state and national average.
A rate that has held steady for two years
Orange County's unemployment rate has moved in a narrow band since August 2024, bottoming out at 3.5% this past May before ticking back up to 4.2% in July.
Swipe left to see the full two-year chart →
What moved in July: the school calendar, mostly
Payrolls dropped in most industry sectors, but the story is one line, not nine. Local government shed 7,100 jobs as schools broke for summer, accounting for 91% of the month's entire net loss.
Bar lengths are scaled to keep smaller changes visible; exact figures are shown beside each bar.
The twelve-month view: health care and hospitality are carrying the county
Look past the July dip and the year tells a steadier story. Private education and health services alone added 13,600 jobs, more than covering losses everywhere else combined.
Bar lengths are scaled to keep smaller changes visible; exact figures are shown beside each bar.
Health care and social assistance jobs added over the year, the single largest gain of any detailed industry in the county.
Growth in private educational services over the year, the fastest growth rate of any sector tracked, on a base of 37,300 jobs.
Jobs lost in local government over the year, 96% of the sector's entire annual decline.
Year-over-year drop in information sector jobs, the steepest percentage decline of any supersector.
Where Orange County stands among California's 58 counties
Orange County ties for the fifth-lowest unemployment rate in the state. Only four counties, all far smaller, post lower rates.
| Rank | County | Labor force | Unemployment rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Mateo | 408,100 | 3.8% |
| 2 | San Francisco | 498,300 | 3.9% |
| 3 | Mono | 8,800 | 4.0% |
| 4 | Santa Clara | 1,027,300 | 4.1% |
| 5 | Orange | 1,603,600 | 4.2% |
| 5 | Marin | 122,700 | 4.2% |
| 5 | Napa | 74,500 | 4.2% |
| 5 | Sierra | 1,580 | 4.2% |
| 9 | Sonoma | 243,800 | 4.3% |
| 10 | Placer | 205,600 | 4.4% |
Orange County's labor force of 1.6 million is larger than every county ranked above or immediately below it, combined. Statewide, California's labor force stands at 19,360,400, with an unemployment rate of 5.3%.
Source: California Employment Development Department, Labor Market Information Division. Figures cover the Anaheim–Santa Ana–Irvine Metropolitan Division (Orange County), not seasonally adjusted, reflecting the March 2025 benchmark. Industry employment is by place of work and excludes the self-employed; labor force and unemployment figures are by place of residence and include the self-employed. Data may not sum exactly due to rounding, and labor force estimates are revised in subsequent months.
Reference period: July 2026 (preliminary), with June 2026 revised and prior-year July 2025 for comparison. Statewide county ranking reflects July 2026 preliminary data.