+1 570 955 3538Susquehanna County: Small Employers, Solo Firms and the Labor Force
Susquehanna County has 863 private establishments and 6,963 private jobs (BLS, second quarter of 2025), at an average weekly wage of $944. Private jobs changed -4.1% from a year earlier. In all three industries below, firms without employees outnumber firms with staff. In construction the county lists 525 firms with no paid employees against 90 with staff (different years, see below). Mining and quarrying has 503 jobs and a location quotient of 16.1, and jobs in it changed -27.0% from a year earlier.
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Firms with staff and firms without
| Industry | Firms with paid staff (2023) | Firms with no paid staff (2021) | No-staff firms per staffed firm | Receipts per no-staff firm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | 90 | 525 | 5.8 | $70,356 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 63 | 260 | 4.1 | $36,931 |
| Administrative and support services | 37 | 282 | 7.6 | $24,621 |
The first column comes from County Business Patterns 2023 and counts locations with at least one paid employee. The second and third come from Nonemployer Statistics 2021, which counts firms with no paid employees and is two years older. Receipts per firm are the Census total receipts divided by firms, for 2021. The two sources are not the same year, so the ratio is a guide to scale.
Construction without employees, across ten counties
Map: county borders from U.S. Census TIGERweb. Shading: construction firms with no employees per 1,000 residents, five groups of two counties each, darker means higher. The thick outline marks Susquehanna County. Base map: OpenStreetMap contributors.
Susquehanna has 13.7 construction firms without employees per 1,000 residents, rank 2 of 10 among the ten Pennsylvania counties (1 is highest). The range runs from 5.8 in Luzerne County to 14.6 in Wayne County. Population is from the ACS 5-year estimate for 2019–2023.
Sectors with staff
| Sector | Establishments | Jobs | Average weekly wage | Jobs vs a year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 127 | 1,175 | $695 | -4.9% |
| Health care and social assistance | 89 | 1,173 | $844 | +3.7% |
| Accommodation and food services | 83 | 929 | $389 | -1.2% |
| Mining and quarrying | 59 | 503 | $1,399 | -27.0% |
| Manufacturing | 54 | 470 | $1,027 | -5.6% |
| Construction | 86 | 458 | $1,315 | -6.5% |
| Professional, scientific, technical services | 67 | 379 | $1,544 | -12.5% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 52 | 340 | $1,122 | -2.0% |
| Other services (repair, personal care) | 71 | 311 | $572 | +6.1% |
| Wholesale trade | 30 | 294 | $1,149 | +13.5% |
| Finance and insurance | 31 | 203 | $1,104 | -4.7% |
| Administrative and waste services | 41 | 192 | $908 | +23.9% |
| Utilities | 6 | 164 | $2,262 | +10.1% |
| Arts, entertainment, recreation | 14 | 111 | $530 | -11.9% |
| Information | 13 | 89 | $1,218 | +3.5% |
| Real estate and rental | 16 | 51 | $1,276 | -28.2% |
| Management of companies | 6 | 49 | $1,187 | -19.7% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 15 | 48 | $697 | -11.1% |
| Educational services | 3 | 24 | $546 | -14.3% |
BLS withholds sectors with too few employers, so some sectors do not appear. Percent changes in a sector with few jobs move a lot from small changes.
The labor force through 2024 and 2025
The labor force moved from 17,805 in Jan 24 to 17,215 in Dec 25. It was highest in Aug 24 at 18,042. October 2025 was not published, and we did not estimate it.
What it means for marketing
A firm with no paid staff has fewer hands to answer the phone. lead follow-up automation replies to a new inquiry within minutes, and review request automation asks each customer for a review so the owner does not have to.
Where the numbers come from
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), 2025 Q2, private ownership, county files. Open data: data.bls.gov/cew. Pulled 2026-10-06.
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, county file, all industries. Open data: census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp. Pulled 2026-10-06.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2021, counties, NAICS 23, 54, 56. Pulled 2026-10-06.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS), county series, not seasonally adjusted, January 2024 to December 2025. Pulled 2026-10-06.
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2019–2023, table B01003 (population). Pulled 2026-10-06.
- U.S. Census Bureau, TIGERweb county boundaries. Pulled 2026-10-06.
FAQ
How many construction firms are in Susquehanna County?
County Business Patterns 2023 lists 90 locations with paid staff. Nonemployer Statistics 2021 lists 525 firms without paid staff. The sources use different years.
What is a nonemployer firm?
A business with no paid employees, such as a sole proprietor, that files federal business taxes. The Census counts those that report receipts of $1,000 or more.
Is mining important in Susquehanna County?
By the BLS location quotient, yes: 16.05 times the national job share, with 503 jobs. The sector's detail is partly withheld.
How big is the labor force?
17,215 people in Dec 25, not seasonally adjusted.
Where does the labor force figure come from?
BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics. The labor force is the residents who are working or looking for work. It is not seasonally adjusted here.
