Employment
12,335,234
Total employees (Census CBP)
Manufacturing ·NAICS 31
NAICS 31 · IRS SOI (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Manufacturing - Industry Benchmarks
$73,202/yr average annual pay, with 7,675 SBA loans on record for NAICS 31.
- 284K
- Establishments
- 12.3M
- Workers employed
- $73,202/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $4.8B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 31
California leads Manufacturing activity nationally, across 284K establishments employing 12.3M workers. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level.
- 284K
- Business establishments (Census)
- 12.3M
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $73,202/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $4.8B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Manufacturing's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Manufacturing 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 Manufacturing
Manufacturing sits inside Manufacturing.
284,452 establishments employ 12,335,234 workers (43.4/location) at $73,202/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Ohio.
Avg Payroll / Employee
$73,202/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
284,452
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 146,904; establishment count decreased by 1,048. 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)
- $903.0B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 43.4
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Apparel Manufacturing NAICS 315 | 5.1% |
| Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing NAICS 312 | 13.7% |
| Food Manufacturing NAICS 311 | 4.7% |
| Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing NAICS 316 | 4.5% |
| Textile Mills NAICS 313 | 2.8% |
| Textile Product Mills NAICS 314 | 3.6% |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 1,157,201 |
| Texas | 869,062 |
| Ohio | 689,133 |
| Michigan | 604,978 |
| Pennsylvania | 564,394 |
| Illinois | 544,438 |
| Indiana | 524,995 |
| Wisconsin | 479,846 |
| North Carolina | 472,162 |
| New York | 411,439 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
7,675
Total Loan Volume
$4.8B
Avg Loan Size
$629K
Jobs Supported
105,747
Program Breakdown
7(a) 6,584 (86%)
504 1,091 (14%)
Top SBA Lender
The Huntington National Bank
471 loans in this industry
New Business Share
34.0% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 997
2021 1,276
2022 1,193
2023 1,274
2024 1,331
2025 1,436
2026 168
Frequently Asked Questions
How many businesses are in Manufacturing?
284,452 business establishments. Together they employ 12,335,234 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Manufacturing?
$73,202/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 43.4 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Manufacturing employment?
California leads with 1,157,201 workers. Texas (869,062) and Ohio (689,133) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Manufacturing receive?
Manufacturing businesses received 7,675 SBA loans totaling $4.8 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $629K. These loans supported 105,747 jobs at origination. Most lending (86%) 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.
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Manufacturing ranks #5 of 19 U.S. industries at the 2-digit NAICS level by total employment.
Closest workforce scale
Same NAICS detail level, ordered by the smallest difference in reported Census employment.
Benchmarking Manufacturing
- No margin data, check the parent industry. Browse Manufacturing
- 284,452 establishments, 12,335,234 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 7,675 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 31 · 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.