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2026 Film Jobs Report: How Film Industry Employment Changed by State

July 2, 2026

2026 Film Jobs Report: How Film Industry Employment Changed by State

After several years shaped by pandemic disruption, strike-related slowdowns, growing competition among states, and new AI-assisted workflows across development, production, and postproduction, film industry employment has not recovered evenly across the country. 

Some states entered 2026 with clear signs of growth in film industry jobs, while others saw steep declines, making employment trends a factor to consider alongside production incentives, costs, and filmmaker support.

To examine these differences, Giggster analyzed the most recent available state-level motion picture and video industry employment data for all 50 states and Washington, D.C., comparing where film jobs grew fastest, where job losses were largest, which states had the biggest film industry job markets, and how employment changed over the longer five-year period.

View our full methodology and breakdown here.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

  • Rhode Island led film industry job growth heading into 2026, with employment rising 70.2% from 2024 to 2025.

  • California lost the most film jobs despite remaining the largest market, with employment falling by nearly 13K jobs from 2024 to 2025.

  • California, New York, and Texas remain the largest film job markets, each with more than 20K film industry jobs in 2025.

  • Nevada showed the steadiest five-year film employment growth, posting positive growth in every year-over-year period from 2021 to 2025 and adding about 1.5K film industry jobs overall.

Where Film Industry Jobs Grew the Fastest

What the Data Shows: 

  • Rhode Island had the fastest film job growth heading into 2026, with film industry employment rising 70.2% from 2024 to 2025.

  • New Jersey posted the largest job gain among the top 10 growth states, adding nearly 2K film industry jobs while growing 34% year over year. 

  • Utah saw the strongest job growth among larger top-five growth states, adding 806 film industry jobs while employment rose 14.2% from 2024 to 2025.

Which States Lost the Most Film Jobs?

What the Data Shows: 

  • California lost by far the most film industry jobs, with employment falling by more than 10% from 2024 to 2025, a decline of nearly 13K jobs, despite remaining the country’s largest film job market.

  • Louisiana saw the biggest percentage drop in film industry employment, falling about 32% from 2024 to 2025 and losing 1.2K jobs.

  • Nationwide, film industry employment barely changed from 2024 to 2025, rising by only about 0.7%.

The Largest U.S. Film Industry Job Markets

What the Data Shows:

  • California remained the country’s largest film industry job market in 2025, with 111.4K film jobs, more than any other state nationwide.

  • The three largest film job markets were California, New York, and Texas, each with more than 20K film industry jobs in 2025.

  • Tennessee and Utah ranked ahead of many larger states by film industry employment, with 7.2K and 6.5K jobs in 2025, placing them among the country’s 10 largest film job markets. 

Fast-Growing Film Job Markets in 2026

What the Data Shows:

  • Utah, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania each grew by more than 7% from 2024 to 2025 and had at least 4K film industry jobs in 2025.

  • Rhode Island ranked first for 2025 growth but remained a smaller film job market than other growth leaders, with fewer than 900 film industry jobs.

  • Top growth states were spread across the Northeast, West, Midwest, South, and Washington, D.C., rather than clustering in one region.

What the Data Shows: 

  • Nevada was the only state to post positive growth in every year-over-year period, with film industry employment rising 54.9% overall from 2021 to 2025.

  • From 2021 to 2025, film industry employment grew in 34 ranked jurisdictions, including Washington, D.C., with gains reaching as high as 54.9%.

  • Major film markets, including California, New York, Georgia, Louisiana, and Hawaii, posted overall declines in film industry employment from 2021 to 2025, with losses reaching nearly 53%.

Key Terms

Film Industry Jobs

Employment in the motion picture and video industry, including jobs tied to production, distribution, postproduction, and related services. In this analysis, the term refers to covered payroll jobs and may not include self-employed or freelance workers.

Film Industry Job Growth

The percentage change in film industry employment from one period to another. In the main 2025 ranking, this refers to the change from 2024 to 2025.

Jobs Added Since 2024

The increase in film industry jobs from 2024 to 2025. This is used to show the size of job gains behind each state’s percentage growth.

Jobs Lost Since 2024

The decrease in film industry jobs from 2024 to 2025. This is used to identify states with the largest employment losses by job count.

Film Industry Job Market

The size of a state’s motion picture and video industry workforce, measured by the number of film industry jobs in 2025.

Five-Year Employment Growth

The percentage change in film industry employment from 2021 to 2025. This is used to show longer-term employment trends beyond the most recent year.

Year-Over-Year Change

The percentage change in film industry employment from one year to the next, such as 2024 to 2025.

Methodology

This report evaluates state-level film industry employment changes across all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. The analysis focuses on employment in the motion picture and video industry, comparing recent job growth, job losses, current workforce size, and longer-term employment trends.

Data Source

Employment data was sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) Table Maker.

The analysis used:

  • Industry: NAICS 5121, Motion Picture and Video Industries
  • Geography: All 50 states and Washington, D.C
  • Time periods: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025

The motion picture and video industry includes jobs tied to production, distribution, postproduction, and related services. Because the dataset is broader than production-only employment, the report uses “film industry jobs” as a simplified reader-facing term.

Employment Measurement

Employment figures represent average third-quarter employment for each year.

For each state and year, employment was calculated using the average of July, August, and September job counts. Third-quarter data was used to compare the same seasonal period across years and reduce the effect of seasonal hiring differences.

Job totals were rounded to the nearest whole number in tables and charts. Some chart labels use abbreviated formatting, such as 111.4K, for readability.

2025 Film Industry Job Growth

This category measures where film industry employment grew fastest from 2024 to 2025.

To calculate 2025 job growth:

  • 2024 film industry employment was compared with that of 2025;
  • The percentage change was calculated for each state;
  • States and Washington, D.C., were ranked from highest to lowest based on percentage growth;
  • Job counts were included to show the size of each increase;

The “Jobs Added Since 2024” column shows the difference between 2025 film jobs and 2024 film jobs.

Film Industry Job Losses

This category identifies the states that lost the most film industry jobs from 2024 to 2025.

To calculate job losses:

  • The 2025 film industry employment was subtracted from the 2024 film industry employment;
  • States with the largest negative job changes were ranked highest in the job-loss table;
  • Percentage change was included to show the relative size of each decline.

The job-loss ranking is based on the number of jobs lost, not the percentage decline.

Largest Film Industry Job Markets

This category measures the size of each state’s film industry workforce in 2025.

States were ranked based on total film industry employment in 2025. Higher job totals indicate larger motion picture and video industry job markets.

This ranking is separate from job growth. A state can have a large film industry workforce while still losing jobs year over year.

Five-Year Employment Growth

This category measures changes in long-term film industry employment from 2021 to 2025.

To calculate five-year growth:

  • 2021 film industry employment was compared with that of 2025;
  • The percentage change was calculated for each state;
  • States and Washington, D.C., were ranked from highest to lowest based on total percentage growth;
  • Year-over-year changes were also calculated for 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, and 2024–25.

The five-year table includes only states and Washington, D.C., with complete data for every year in the 2021–2025 comparison.

Ranking

In cases where multiple jurisdictions share the same displayed value, they share the same rank. The next ranks continue in order.

States with suppressed or incomplete data were excluded from rankings where the required values were missing. These states may still appear as N/A in map visuals where applicable.

Things to Keep in Mind

QCEW data counts covered payroll jobs, not unique workers. A person with more than one covered job may be counted more than once. The data does not represent job openings, active hiring listings, or future job availability.

Self-employed workers, independent contractors, and some freelance film workers may not be captured in the QCEW data.

The report uses third-quarter employment data for each year to keep the comparison consistent across time. Results may differ from annual-average employment figures or other labor-market datasets. Because some BLS data may be revised after initial release, figures should be understood as the most current available values at the time of analysis.