The Bureau of Economic Analysis has released a new report on compensation by county.  The figures are for 2008, and they show that American jobs paid, on average, $56,116 that year.  That was up 2.6%.  80% of counties across the US saw average compensation per job rise.  Total compensation was up 2.3%, and was outpaced by inflation, which rose 3.3%. 

The real value in this report is the county-by-county breakdown.

Small counties--those with less than $1 billion in total compensation--saw a 3.1% rise in total compensation.  Average annual compensation per job rose 3.7%.  Of the 2,265 counties designated "small" by the BEA, Eureka County, NV has the highest average annual compensation at $91,585, and Petroleum County, MT has the lowest at $27, 285.  72.8% of all US counties fit the "small county" designation, and together they represent 8.3 % of total national compensation.

Large counties, on the other hand, represent 5.4% of the total counties in the US, and 65.9% of total compensation.  Among these counties, New York County (Manhattan) had the highest average annual compensation (and highest in the nation)--$117,509.  El Paso County, TX, had an average annual compensation of $42,730. 

Read more from the Bureau of Economic Analysis here.