“Today the Census Bureau released manufacturing statistics from its 2012 Economic Census at the state, metro area and county levels, as well as for cities and towns, for more than 350 manufacturing industries. These data, referred to as the Geographic Area Series, cover more than 296,000 U.S. manufacturing establishments (NAICS 31-33) within every state and their localities. “These Geographic Area Series reports are the only source of detailed economic information for more than 15,000 cities, towns and other similar places in the U.S.,” Census Bureau Director John H. Thompson said. “We are pleased that over the course of this year, the Geographic Area Series will be providing for 18 sectors of the economy − economic information for the first time for more than 5,000 small towns. This unique data set is indispensable in assessing the performance of the economy in every corner of the country.” An illustration of the geographic detail this series offers is provided by examining statistics for California, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area, and Los Angeles County and city. California had more manufacturing establishments (38,741) and employees (1.2 million) than any other state. The average annual payroll per employee for California manufacturing establishments rose 21.1 percent, from $49,187 in 2007 to $59,584 in 2012, while the value of shipments from the state’s manufacturing establishments increased 4.3 percent, from $491.4 billion in 2007 to $512.3 billion in 2012. Within the manufacturing sector in California, the computer and electronic product manufacturing subsector (NAICS 334) was the largest employer with 177,603 employees. Within this subsector, at the 6-digit NAICS level, the radio and television broadcasting and wireless communications equipment manufacturing industry (NAICS 334220) led employment with 28,153 employees. The petroleum and coal products manufacturing subsector (NAICS 324) reported the highest value of industry shipments of any manufacturing subsector in the state, up 17.0 percent from $77.3 billion in 2007 to $90.5 billion in 2012. More than 45 percent of the manufacturing establishments in California were located in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area (17,461); these establishments reported $211.1 billion in value of industry shipments in 2012. Los Angeles County was home to 12,760 of these establishments; they employed 359,532 people and reported $163.8 billion in shipments in 2012.  California’s most populous city, Los Angeles, was home to 5,034 manufacturing establishments, employed 101,103 people and reported shipments of $43.5 billion in 2012.”