Profit Margin
4.4%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Construction ·NAICS 236
NAICS 236 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Construction of Buildings - Industry Benchmarks
$82,433/yr average annual pay, with 13,224 SBA loans on record for NAICS 236.
- 4.4%
- Net margin
- 1.6M
- Workers employed
- $82,433/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $3.9B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 236
Construction of Buildings runs a 4.4% pre-tax net margin - below the national median - across 255K establishments employing 1.6M workers.
- 4.4%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 1.6M
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $82,433/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $3.9B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Construction of Buildings
Construction of Buildings sits inside Construction at a 4.4% net margin (below the national median), $609.8B in aggregate receipts across 983,492 returns, averaging $620.0M per establishment.
254,630 establishments employ 1,621,439 workers (6.4/location) at $82,433/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Florida.
Total Receipts
$609.8B
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$27.0B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
1,621,439
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$82,433/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
254,630
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 45,268; establishment count increased by 2,996. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Where each dollar of Construction of Buildings revenue goes
Workforce scale
Construction of Buildings margin vs national reference points
Construction of Buildings net margin 14.7%
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
209,392 returns 21%
Margin: 2.6% · Receipts: $495.7B
Sole Proprietorship
774,100 returns 79%
Margin: 12.3% · Receipts: $114.1B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 983,492
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $620.0M
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $133.7B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 6.4
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Nonresidential Building Construction NAICS 2362 | N/A |
| Residential Building Construction NAICS 2361 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 207,617 |
| Texas | 133,451 |
| Florida | 111,597 |
| New York | 96,794 |
| Pennsylvania | 59,654 |
| Washington | 56,891 |
| North Carolina | 52,834 |
| Illinois | 46,149 |
| Ohio | 45,179 |
| Virginia | 44,549 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
13,224
Total Loan Volume
$3.9B
Avg Loan Size
$296K
Jobs Supported
87,738
Program Breakdown
7(a) 12,529 (95%)
504 695 (5%)
Top SBA Lender
The Huntington National Bank
1,367 loans in this industry
New Business Share
21.3% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 1,371
2021 1,442
2022 1,707
2023 2,153
2024 2,825
2025 3,317
2026 409
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Construction of Buildings?
$609.8B in total annual receipts across all Construction of Buildings businesses. Average per business: $620.0M.
How profitable is Construction of Buildings?
4.4% net profit margin, below the national median.
How many businesses are in Construction of Buildings?
254,630 business establishments. Together they employ 1,621,439 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Construction of Buildings?
$82,433/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 6.4 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Construction of Buildings employment?
California leads with 207,617 workers. Texas (133,451) and Florida (111,597) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Construction of Buildings receive?
Construction of Buildings businesses received 13,224 SBA loans totaling $3.9 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $296K. These loans supported 87,738 jobs at origination. Most lending (95%) 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.
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.
- Transportation Equipment Manufacturing 1,682,910
- Personal and Laundry Services 1,556,668
- Truck Transportation 1,693,228
Benchmarking Construction of Buildings
- Net margin: 4.4% vs sector. Browse Construction
- 254,630 establishments, 1,621,439 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 13,224 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 236 · 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.