The number of jobs in the Bay Area increased by 27% from 2002 through 2023
Bay Area employment as of 2024 was approximately 4.1 million jobs
The Bay Area lost over 280k jobs between 2019 and 2021 in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic
Introduction
Where do we work?
If the Bay Area were a nation, its economy would rank among the top 25 in the world. The Bay Area’s nearly four million workers power an economy notable for its diversity, innovation and resilience.
Regional Performance
Bay Area jobs have had overall long-term growth with cycles of boom and bust.
The Bay Area economy has experienced three major shocks in the 21st century – the “dot-com” technology bubble of the early 2000s, the Great Recession of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In the early 2000s, after the dot-com crash, the region lost almost 150,000 jobs between 2002 and 2004, falling to a low of around 3.1 million jobs. The Bay Area bounced back between 2004 and 2008, adding almost 190,000 jobs, only to again lose more than 120,000 jobs from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession.
After a decade of immense job growth in the 2010s, the COVID-19 pandemic saw the region lose over 280,000 jobs between 2019 and 2021, representing a roughly 7% drop. The region added back approximately 300,000 jobs from 2021 to 2023 and as of 2023, the region had reached a high of almost 4.1 million jobs. Despite this recovery, there are still ongoing uncertainties stemming from broader macro-economic concerns.
The Bay Area added almost a million jobs during the economic expansion of the 2010s (between 2009 and 2019)
Despite the pandemic-era decrease in employment, as of 2023, the Bay Area had 12,355 more jobs than in 2019
Historical Trend for Jobs
Local Focus
Jobs are clustered in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.
The location of employment clusters can have a strong effect on transportation patterns and housing costs. When divided into 20 sub-county areas, the largest job centers in the region continue to be in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Together, these sub-county areas of San Francisco County, North Santa Clara County and San Jose totaled more than 1.5 million jobs in 2023 – nearly half of all regional employment. The most robust job growth rates from 2010 to 2023 can be seen in South San Mateo County and Southwest Santa Clara County. However, booming job markets in these sub-county areas also have contributed to a growing regional jobs-housing imbalance.
of the job growth from 2010 to 2023 occurred in Santa Clara and San Francisco counties
More than 150K jobs were added in San Francisco County, North Santa Clara County and North Alameda County between 2021 and 2023
Change in Jobs for Sub-County Areas
Click on a shape on the map for more information.
2010 - 2019
2019 - 2023
Sources & Methodology
The US Census / Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) Workplace Area Characteristics (WAC) data gives job counts by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 2-digit sector at the 2020 Census Block level.
For measuring jobs below the county level, Vital Signs assigns collections of incorporated cities and towns to sub-county areas. For example, the cities of East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Redwood City and Woodside are considered South San Mateo County. Because Bay Area counties differ in footprint, the number of cities included in a sub-county is one for San Francisco and one for San Jose and more than one for all other sub-counties. Estimates for sub-county areas are the sums of Census block-level estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau: LODES data.
The following incorporated cities and towns are included in each sub-county area:
- North Alameda County: Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont
- East Alameda County: Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton
- South Alameda County: Fremont, Hayward, Newark, San Leandro, Union City
- Central Contra Costa County: Clayton, Concord, Danville, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, San Ramon, Walnut Creek
- East Contra Costa County: Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Pittsburg
- West Contra Costa County: El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole, Richmond, San Pablo
- Marin County: Belvedere, Corte Madera, Fairfax, Larkspur, Mill Valley, Novato, Ross, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Tiburon
- Napa County: American Canyon, Calistoga, Napa, St. Helena, Yountville
- San Francisco County: San Francisco
- North San Mateo County: Brisbane, Colma, Daly City, Millbrae, Pacifica, San Bruno, South San Francisco
- Central San Mateo County: Belmont, Burlingame, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, San Carlos, San Mateo
- South San Mateo County: East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Redwood City, Woodside, Atherton
- North Santa Clara County: Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale
- San Jose: San Jose
- Southwest Santa Clara County: Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga
- South Santa Clara County: Gilroy, Morgan Hill
- East Solano County: Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville
- South Solano County: Benicia, Vallejo
- North Sonoma County: Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Windsor
- South Sonoma County: Cotati, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma
U.S. Census Bureau: LODES Data
Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program
2002-2023