Profit Margin
6.3%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Construction ·NAICS 23
NAICS 23 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Construction - Industry Benchmarks
$76,580/yr average annual pay, with 49,787 SBA loans on record for NAICS 23.
- 6.3%
- Net margin
- 7.7M
- Workers employed
- $76,580/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $20.0B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 23
Construction runs a 6.3% pre-tax net margin - below the national median - across 815K establishments employing 7.7M workers.
- 6.3%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 7.7M
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $76,580/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $20.0B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Construction's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Construction 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 Statistics of Income 2023 and Census County Business Patterns
Benchmarking Insights for Construction
Construction sits inside Construction at a 6.3% net margin (below the national median), $2.3T in aggregate receipts across 4,232,486 returns, averaging $540.0M per establishment.
814,557 establishments employ 7,659,459 workers (9.4/location) at $76,580/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Florida.
Total Receipts
$2.3T
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$143.6B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
7,659,459
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$76,580/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
814,557
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 297,612; establishment count increased by 13,906. 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)Where each dollar of Construction revenue goes
Workforce scale
Construction margin vs national reference points
Construction net margin 20.9%
Cross-industry median (5%)
p25/median/p75 = 3%/5%/8%
Business Structure Breakdown
How businesses in this industry are legally structured (IRS SOI)
C Corporation
695,261 returns 16%
Margin: 3.4% · Receipts: $1.3T
Partnership
195,762 returns 5%
Margin: 7.8% · Receipts: $568.0B
S Corporation
24,568 returns 1%
Margin: N/A · Receipts: N/A
Sole Proprietorship
3,316,895 returns 78%
Margin: 14.4% · Receipts: $377.1B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 4,232,486
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $540.0M
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $586.6B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 9.4
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Construction of Buildings NAICS 236 | 4.4% |
| Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction NAICS 237 | 2.6% |
| Specialty Trade Contractors NAICS 238 | 7.6% |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 870,789 |
| Texas | 791,588 |
| Florida | 561,420 |
| New York | 371,275 |
| Pennsylvania | 260,932 |
| North Carolina | 249,407 |
| Illinois | 229,716 |
| Washington | 229,133 |
| Ohio | 218,060 |
| Georgia | 216,909 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
49,787
Total Loan Volume
$20.0B
Avg Loan Size
$402K
Jobs Supported
441,630
Program Breakdown
7(a) 45,666 (92%)
504 4,121 (8%)
Top SBA Lender
The Huntington National Bank
5,796 loans in this industry
New Business Share
22.6% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 5,700
2021 6,203
2022 6,519
2023 8,148
2024 10,462
2025 11,263
2026 1,492
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Construction?
$2.3T in total annual receipts across all Construction businesses. Average per business: $540.0M.
How profitable is Construction?
6.3% net profit margin, below the national median.
How many businesses are in Construction?
814,557 business establishments. Together they employ 7,659,459 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Construction?
$76,580/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 9.4 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Construction employment?
California leads with 870,789 workers. Texas (791,588) and Florida (561,420) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Construction receive?
Construction businesses received 49,787 SBA loans totaling $20.0 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $402K. These loans supported 441,630 jobs at origination. Most lending (92%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.
Comparable industry benchmarks
These links are calculated from the current national dataset. They are comparison paths, not recommendations or evidence that businesses operate alike.
How this ranks: Construction reports a higher net margin than 26% of the 19 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 63% of that same 19-industry cohort. Calculated by ranking this industry's reported value against every other industry at the same NAICS digit-level, not the whole dataset: comparing a 6-digit detail industry to a 2-digit sector would mix incompatible scales.
Closest reported net margins
Same NAICS detail level, ordered by the smallest difference in reported IRS pre-tax margin.
Closest workforce scale
Same NAICS detail level, ordered by the smallest difference in reported Census employment.
- Finance and Insurance 6,991,623
- Transportation and Warehousing 6,548,924
- Wholesale Trade 6,236,357
Benchmarking Construction
- Net margin: 6.3% vs sector. Browse Construction
- 814,557 establishments, 7,659,459 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 49,787 SBA loans on record. SBA lending 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 23 · Data year: 2023
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.