Construction ·NAICS 2381

NAICS 2381 · IRS SOI 2013 (C corp) · Census CBP 2023

Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors - Industry Benchmarks

$67,882/yr average annual pay, with 6,140 SBA loans on record for NAICS 2381.

4.9%
Net margin
959K
Workers employed
$67,882/yr
Avg payroll / employee
$2.5B
SBA lending, FY20–26

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · NAICS 2381

Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors runs a 4.9% pre-tax net margin - below the national median - across 106K establishments employing 959K workers.

4.9%
Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
959K
Workers employed (Census CBP)
$67,882/yr
Avg payroll / employee
$2.5B
SBA lending, FY20–26

Use Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.

Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors 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 2013 (C corporation headline) and Census County Business Patterns 2023

Benchmarking Insights for Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors

Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors sits inside Construction at a 4.9% net margin (below the national median), $105.5B in aggregate receipts across 59,534 returns, averaging $1.8B per establishment.

106,125 establishments employ 959,465 workers (9.0/location) at $67,882/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Florida.

Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors sits in the 85th percentile for employment and the 49th percentile for net margin among 4-digit NAICS industries with reported data.

Profit Margin

4.9%

Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)

Total Receipts

$105.5B

Annual revenue (IRS SOI)

Net Income

$5.2B

Pre-tax net income

Employment

959,465

Total employees (Census CBP)

Avg Payroll / Employee

$67,882/yr

Annual compensation

Establishments

106,125

Business locations

Release-over-release change

What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023

Employment increased by 36,156; establishment count increased by 1,693. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.

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Where each dollar of Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors revenue goes

Workforce scale

Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors margin vs national reference points

Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors net margin 16.4%
Cross-industry median (5%)

p25/median/p75 = 3%/5%/7%

Business Structure Breakdown

Per-entity IRS SOI tables at their own vintages, shares only when every row shares one year (never mix 2013/2017/2022 populations).

C Corporation SOI 2013
59,534 returns 100%

Margin: 4.9% · Receipts: $105.5B

Financial Detail

Total Tax Returns Filed
59,534
Avg Receipts per Business
$1.8B
Annual Payroll (Total)
$65.1B
Avg Employees per Establishment
9.0

Sub-Industries

Industry Profit Margin
Framing Contractors

NAICS 23813

 N/A
Glass and Glazing Contractors

NAICS 23815

 N/A
Masonry Contractors

NAICS 23814

 N/A
Other Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors

NAICS 23819

 N/A
Poured Concrete Foundation and Structure Contractors

NAICS 23811

 N/A
Roofing Contractors

NAICS 23816

 N/A
Siding Contractors

NAICS 23817

 N/A
Structural Steel and Precast Concrete Contractors

NAICS 23812

 N/A

Top States by Employment

State Employment
California 121,158
Texas 95,249
Florida 86,466
New York 40,378
Washington 32,649
Arizona 32,539
Pennsylvania 31,125
Illinois 28,393
North Carolina 28,219
Ohio 28,000

Showing top 10 of 51 states

SBA Lending Activity

SBA FY2020–2026

SBA Loans Approved

6,140

Total Loan Volume

$2.5B

Avg Loan Size

$403K

Jobs Supported

56,271

Program Breakdown

7(a) 5,712 (93%)
504 428 (7%)

Top SBA Lender

The Huntington National Bank

866 loans in this industry

New Business Share

25.2% of borrowers were new/startup businesses

Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)

2020
688
2021
780
2022
842
2023
1,045
2024
1,299
2025
1,302
2026
184

View SBA lending rankings →

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average revenue for Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors?
$105.5B in total annual receipts across all Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors businesses. Average per business: $1.8B.
How profitable is Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors?
4.9% net profit margin, below the national median.
How many businesses are in Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors?
106,125 business establishments. Together they employ 959,465 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors?
$67,882/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 9.0 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors employment?
California leads with 121,158 workers. Texas (95,249) and Florida (86,466) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors receive?
Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors businesses received 6,140 SBA loans totaling $2.5 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $403K. These loans supported 56,271 jobs at origination. Most lending (93%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.

Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers

Two IRS/Census peer sets for Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors, both at NAICS level 4 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors ranks #40 of 259 U.S. industries at the 4-digit NAICS level by total employment. According to IRS SOI 2013 IRS Statistics of Income, its reported pre-tax net margin ranks #64 of 126 at that same detail level.

Read with this industry: Understanding profit margins by industry · Construction · 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 2381 · CBP 2023 · IRS SOI 2013

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.