| Explanation | Military branches employ a significant number of Thurston County residents. The majority of these jobs occur at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The base employs 40,000 military personnel and more than 15,000 civilians, making it one of the top five employers in Washington in recent years (ahead of Amazon and Microsoft, but behind Boeing).
Between 2012 and 2016, an average of about 3,700 active-duty military personnel lived in Thurston County, an increase from 2,000 people in 2000. |