Orange County Warehouse Jobs and Pay, 2019 vs 2025

Fulfillment Research › Orange County Warehouse Jobs

By OC3PL · Published November 11, 2026 · Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW, 2019 to 2025

Private warehousing and storage employers in Orange County, California averaged 7,271 jobs in 2025, 33.8% more than the 5,436 of 2019, while total private employment in the county was almost unchanged (up 0.2%).

Key Numbers

• 7,271private warehousing and storage jobs in Orange County in 2025, up 33.8% from 5,436 in 2019BLS QCEW, NAICS 493, annual averages 2019 and 2025
• $79,302average annual pay per warehouse job in 2025, up 26.7% from $62,583 in 2019BLS QCEW, NAICS 493, annual averages 2019 and 2025
• 158private warehousing establishments in 2025, up from 108 in 2019 (46.3% more)BLS QCEW, NAICS 493, annual averages 2019 and 2025
• +0.2%change in total private jobs in Orange County over the same years (1,498,745 to 1,501,121)BLS QCEW, all industries, annual averages 2019 and 2025
• −3.6%change in warehouse jobs from 2024 (7,540, the highest year in this series) to 2025BLS QCEW, NAICS 493, annual averages 2024 and 2025

Private warehousing and storage employers in Orange County averaged 7,271 jobs in 2025, up from 5,436 in 2019: 1,835 more jobs, or 33.8%. Jobs rose every year from 2019 to 2024, when they reached 7,540, the highest year in this series, and then fell 3.6% in 2025.

Over the same years, total private employment in the county barely moved: 1,498,745 jobs in 2019 and 1,501,121 in 2025, up 0.2%. Warehousing grew while the county's private job count stayed flat.

The number of private warehousing establishments, meaning business locations classified as warehousing and storage, rose from 108 to 158 (46.3%). It peaked at 162 in 2024. Most of the county's warehouse employment is in general merchandise warehousing (NAICS 493110), as opposed to refrigerated, farm product or other specialized storage: 6,553 jobs at 130 establishments in 2025, or 90.1% of the county's warehouse jobs. The official industry definition includes logistics services such as order entry and fulfillment and pick and pack, as long as the business also stores the goods.

Average annual pay per job at the county's private warehousing employers was $79,302 in 2025, up 26.7% from $62,583 in 2019. It dipped 1.2% from $80,290 in 2024. Across all private jobs in the county, average pay rose 30.5% over the same period, from $64,176 to $83,742.

Average annual pay is total wages divided by average jobs. It covers every job at these employers, from warehouse associates to managers, and counts part-time and seasonal jobs as whole jobs. It is not an hourly wage or a starting rate, and it is not adjusted for inflation.

Orange County's warehouse growth was real, but in percentage terms Riverside County (up 57.2%), San Bernardino County (up 48.4%), California (up 45.9%) and the United States (up 52.3%) all grew faster from 2019 to 2025, while Los Angeles County fell 3.4%. Orange County is also the smallest warehouse employer of the four counties, with 7,271 jobs against 67,058 in San Bernardino County.

Pay runs the other way. Average annual pay per warehouse job was $79,302 in Orange County in 2025, the highest of the four Southern California counties in this study, against $72,075 in Los Angeles County, $60,053 in Riverside County and $60,258 in San Bernardino County.

Private employers, NAICS 493, Warehousing and Storage. Change is our calculation from the BLS annual averages. Pay is in dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Source: BLS QCEW.

• There are more warehouse operations in the county than in 2019. Orange County had 158 private warehousing establishments in 2025, up from 108 in 2019, and 1,835 more warehouse jobs.
• Growth was uneven across Southern California. Riverside and San Bernardino counties grew faster in percentage terms, while Los Angeles County's warehouse jobs fell. If you are weighing fulfillment locations in the region, compare each county's own figures in the table above rather than a regional total.
• 2025 was a pause, not a forecast. Warehouse jobs in the county fell 3.6% from 2024 to 2025, and establishments went from 162 to 158. One year is not a trend, and these figures do not predict where the market goes next.

Data. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), annual averages for 2019 through 2025. QCEW is built from the quarterly reports employers file for unemployment insurance, so it counts nearly all wage and salary jobs rather than a survey sample.

Industry. NAICS 493, Warehousing and Storage, private employers. Each year's figures come from that year's annual file. Total private employment (all industries) is the comparison for the county as a whole.

Measures. Jobs are the annual average of monthly employment. Establishments are the annual average count of business locations. Average annual pay is total annual wages divided by average jobs. Percentage changes are our own calculations from the BLS figures, rounded to one decimal place.

Checks. We downloaded the files on November 11, 2026 and checked the Orange County figures a second way, against the BLS county files and the BLS public data API. Every value matched.

Limits

• Jobs are counted at the employer's location and in the employer's industry, so fulfillment work done elsewhere is not in these figures. Brands and retailers that run their own warehouses are counted in their own industries, temporary workers placed by staffing agencies are counted under employment services, freight arrangement firms are NAICS 488510, and logistics consulting firms are NAICS 541614 (1,513 private jobs in Orange County in 2025, not included above).
• Pay is in dollars of each year and is not adjusted for inflation.
• BLS can revise recent QCEW figures. These are the figures published when we downloaded them.
• No figure used here was withheld by BLS for confidentiality. The data cannot show any single company's jobs or pay, including ours.

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW annual averages by industry, 2019 to 2025: Warehousing and Storage (NAICS 493). The same path serves each year and industry (493110, 541614, and 10 for all industries). data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/493.csv
• BLS QCEW Data Views, to look up any county and industry data.bls.gov/cew/apps/data_views/data_views.htm
• BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, program home www.bls.gov/cew/
• U.S. Census Bureau, NAICS definition of 493 Warehousing and Storage www.census.gov/naics/?input=493&year=2022&details=493

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