Score
Labor Force Participation
Higher ACS labor-force participation rates score higher after small-denominator smoothing.
Higher values rank better for this score.
How It's Calculated
The latest published score is normalized to a 0-100 scale. The method below explains what the score rewards, with technical source metadata available for audit.
How the ranking is built
Labor Force Participation rewards places where a higher share of residents age 16+ are in the labor force.
- 1
Labor force is divided by the population age 16 and over.
- 2
Small denominators are shrunk toward the all-place mean.
- 3
The adjusted participation rate is population-weighted percentile-ranked, so higher participation scores higher.
Technical details
Read from the current master score table for this criterion.
The top 10 below ignore your blended relocation weights and sort only by Labor Force Participation.
What This Score Means
Labor Force Participation rewards places where a higher share of residents age 16+ are in the labor force.
Statistics Feeding This Score
- Population age 16+Source: U.S. Census American Community Survey 5-Year
ACS population 16 years and over.
- Labor forceSource: U.S. Census American Community Survey 5-Year
ACS residents age 16+ in the labor force.
- Adjusted participation rateSource: Derived from ACS inputs
Labor-force participation after small-denominator shrinkage.
Source Data
Known Limits
- These are ACS place-level resident proxies, not live job postings, employer locations, occupation-specific salary offers, or metro commute-shed demand.
- ACS values are multi-year estimates and can lag current labor-market changes.
- Small labor-force and industry denominators are shrunk toward all-place means.
- Wage Opportunity is not cost-of-living adjusted; combine it with affordability scores for buying-power preferences.
Top 10 Locations
Ranked by Labor Force Participation.