The Entertainment Software Association has released a 32-page report breaking down some statistics about video game jobs in the United States. The group claims that the industry added almost $5 billion to the US GDP last year, and entertainment software's annual growth rate from 2005 to 2009 exceeded 10% – more than seven times that of the US economy.
The industry directly employs over 32,000 people, which has increased at an annual rate of nearly 9%. Those individuals earn an average yearly income of $89,781, and the total compensation for all workers totaled $2.9 billion in 2009. Around 88,000 people are employed indirectly in the US.
California is home to a majority of that personnel, employing almost 53,000 people directly and indirectly. Texas trails with 13,613 workers, while Washington, New York, and Massachusetts filled out the top five states with the highest number of video game jobs. Meanwhile, Virginia and Oregon are said to have the quickest growing game markets.