”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations, noting that these grades are best seen as a mix of art and data.

Buzz: Ventura County has California’s largest share of unionized workers, while San Jose has the least.

Source: My trusty spreadsheet analyzed 2021 federal union membership data for 21 California metropolitan areas as broken down by UnionStats.

Top line

Statewide, there are 2.5 million union members — almost equally split between government and private-sector employers. That’s 16% of all California workers, the nation’s sixth-highest union share.

But union clout in the state’s big metro areas — and the split between the public sector and private industry — varies widely.

Details

Here’s a look at the union slice of California metro job markets and the size of the public-private split, ranked by the union share of local workforces …

1. Ventura County: 31.8% of all local workers. The 121,220 union members are split 36% in government jobs and 64% in the private sector.

2. Bakersfield: 27.5% of workers; 79,070 members —  34% government; 66% private.

3. San Luis Obispo: 27.2% of workers; 27,238 members —  80% government; 20% private.

4. Modesto: 25.5% of workers; 51,200 members —  43% government; 57% private.

5. Vallejo: 24.3% of workers; 38,062 members —  59% government; 41% private.

6. Sacramento: 23.3% of workers; 212,439 members —  57% government; 43% private.

7. Santa Rosa: 20.3% of workers; 28,708 members —  50% government; 50% private.

8. Visalia: 19.3% of workers; 20,819 members —  59% government; 41% private.

9. Santa Cruz: 19.2% of workers; 24,518 members —  69% government; 31% private.

10. Redding: 18.8% of workers; 21,332 members —  66% government; 34% private.

11. Fresno: 18.2% of workers; 69,196 members —  55% government; 45% private.

12. Inland Empire: 18.1% of workers; 306,945 members —  49% government; 51% private.

13. Hanford: 16.4% of workers; 16,978 members —  68% government; 32% private.

14. Los Angeles-Orange County: 14.3% of workers; 755,185 members —  44% government; 56% private.

14. Salinas: 14.3% of workers; 27,965 members —  35% government; 65% private.

16. Stockton: 13.9% of workers; 49,475 members —  30% government; 70% private.

17. San Diego: 13.8% of workers; 188,390 members —  58% government; 42% private.

18. Chico: 13.3% of workers; 13,223 members —  59% government; 41% private.

19. San Francisco: 12.6% of workers; 256,163 members —  57% government; 43% private.

20. Santa Maria: 10% of workers; 16,226 members —  83% government; 17% private.

21. San Jose: 9.6% of workers; 92,997 members —  53% government; 47% private.

Bottom line

Union work is more plentiful in six Southern California counties with large manufacturing and logistics operations, traditionally strong hubs for organized labor. Those counties have 57% of all union members statewide with 53% in government and 60% in private industry.

And many of the metros dominated by government union workers are home to large state colleges or universities.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com