Employment
43,082
Total employees (Census CBP)
Utilities ·NAICS 22131
NAICS 22131 · IRS SOI (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Water Supply and Irrigation Systems - Industry Benchmarks
$76,890/yr average annual pay, with 260 SBA loans on record for NAICS 22131.
- -1.3%
- Utilities sector margin
- 43K
- Workers employed
- $76,890/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $126M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 22131
Texas leads Water Supply and Irrigation Systems activity nationally. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level, but the broader Utilities sector runs a -1.3% net margin.
- -1.3%
- Utilities sector margin (IRS SOI)
- 43K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $76,890/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $126M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Water Supply and Irrigation Systems's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Water Supply and Irrigation Systems is reported here with financial measures from IRS Statistics of Income and workforce measures from Census County Business Patterns. The page keeps those source systems distinct, shows unavailable fields rather than estimating them, and links the underlying industry context so readers can compare the same NAICS activity before interpreting a margin or payroll figure.
Source: IRS SOI (C corporation headline) and Census County Business Patterns 2023
Benchmarking Insights for Water Supply and Irrigation Systems
Water Supply and Irrigation Systems sits inside Utilities, a sector that runs a -1.3% net margin overall.
4,554 establishments employ 43,082 workers (9.5/location) at $76,890/yr average annual pay. Texas leads employment, followed by California and Florida.
Water Supply and Irrigation Systems sits in the 35th percentile for employment among 5-digit NAICS industries with reported data.
Avg Payroll / Employee
$76,890/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
4,554
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 2,372; establishment count increased by 124. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Subscribe to this industry's release updates (RSS)Workforce scale
Financial Detail
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $3.3B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 9.5
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Water Supply and Irrigation Systems NAICS 221310 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| Texas | 6,471 |
| California | 5,540 |
| Florida | 2,833 |
| Arizona | 1,676 |
| Mississippi | 1,652 |
| Ohio | 1,176 |
| Connecticut | 952 |
| New York | 667 |
| Washington | 657 |
| Colorado | 594 |
Showing top 10 of 50 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
260
Total Loan Volume
$126M
Avg Loan Size
$485K
Jobs Supported
2,166
Program Breakdown
7(a) 247 (95%)
504 13 (5%)
Top SBA Lender
The Huntington National Bank
21 loans in this industry
New Business Share
31.2% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 37
2021 51
2022 40
2023 31
2024 43
2025 56
2026 2
Frequently Asked Questions
How profitable is Water Supply and Irrigation Systems?
IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at the NAICS 22131 level. Texas leads this industry nationally. The broader Utilities sector runs a -1.3% net margin (IRS SOI 2013 C corp).
How many businesses are in Water Supply and Irrigation Systems?
4,554 business establishments. Together they employ 43,082 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Water Supply and Irrigation Systems?
$76,890/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 9.5 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Water Supply and Irrigation Systems employment?
Texas leads with 6,471 workers. California (5,540) and Florida (2,833) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Water Supply and Irrigation Systems receive?
Water Supply and Irrigation Systems businesses received 260 SBA loans totaling $126 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $485K. These loans supported 2,166 jobs at origination. Most lending (95%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.
Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers
Two IRS/Census peer sets for Water Supply and Irrigation Systems, both at NAICS level 5 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Water Supply and Irrigation Systems ranks #360 of 551 U.S. industries at the 5-digit NAICS level by total employment.
Similar workforce scale
Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (43,082 here).
Read with this industry: Industry employment trends · Utilities · Rankings
Disclaimer: Public IRS/Census data, not financial or tax advice. See our full disclaimer.
Sources: IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) Business Tax Statistics · Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023
NAICS 22131 · CBP 2023 · IRS SOI
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, which released its 2023 County Business Patterns dataset in June 2025, PlainBizBench benchmarks 2,002 U.S. industries against Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income data. See our methodology for the full compilation process.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns / SUSB Industry employment scale, payroll, and firm-size benchmarks · 2023
Every figure on PlainBizBench is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates profit-margin, payroll, entity-type, and SBA-lending benchmarks for this industry, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.
Disclaimer: Public IRS/Census data, not financial or tax advice. See our full disclaimer.