NAICS 322 · IRS SOI 2013 (C corp) · Census CBP 2023

Paper Manufacturing - Industry Benchmarks

$75,350/yr average annual pay, with 218 SBA loans on record for NAICS 322.

6.8%
Net margin: 351K
Workers employed: $75,350/yr
Avg payroll / employee: $246M
SBA lending, FY20–26

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · NAICS 322

Paper Manufacturing runs a 6.8% pre-tax net margin - below the national median - across 4K establishments employing 351K workers.

6.8%
Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI): 351K
Workers employed (Census CBP): $75,350/yr
Avg payroll / employee: $246M
SBA lending, FY20–26

Use Paper Manufacturing's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.

Paper 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 2013 (C corporation headline) and Census County Business Patterns 2023

Benchmarking Insights for Paper Manufacturing

Paper Manufacturing sits inside Manufacturing at a 6.8% net margin (below the national median), $178.5B in aggregate receipts across 3,114 returns, averaging $57.3B per establishment.

3,813 establishments employ 351,485 workers (92.2/location) at $75,350/yr average annual pay. Wisconsin leads employment, followed by Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Paper Manufacturing sits in the 25th percentile for employment and the 75th percentile for net margin among 3-digit NAICS industries with reported data.

Profit Margin

6.8%

Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)

Total Receipts

$178.5B

Annual revenue (IRS SOI)

Net Income

$12.1B

Pre-tax net income

Employment

351,485

Total employees (Census CBP)

Avg Payroll / Employee

$75,350/yr

Annual compensation

Establishments

3,813

Business locations

Release-over-release change

What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023

Employment decreased by 3,838; establishment count decreased by 9. 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 Paper Manufacturing revenue goes

Receipts decomposition, IRS Statistics of Income 2023 aggregate for Paper Manufacturing

Workforce scale

Establishment size, Paper Manufacturing (Census SUSB)

Paper Manufacturing margin vs national reference points

Paper Manufacturing net margin 22.5%

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

3,114 returns 100%

Margin: 6.8% · Receipts: $178.5B

Financial Detail

Total Tax Returns Filed: 3,114
Avg Receipts per Business: $57.3B
Annual Payroll (Total): $26.5B
Avg Employees per Establishment: 92.2

Sub-Industries

Industry	Profit Margin	Employment	Avg Payroll/Emp
Converted Paper Product Manufacturing NAICS 3222	9.5%	260,693	$68,760/yr
Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Mills NAICS 3221	2.4%	90,792	$94,271/yr

Top States by Employment

State	Employment	Establishments	Annual Payroll	Avg Payroll/Emp
Wisconsin	26,617	200	$2.0B	$76,801/yr
Pennsylvania	21,606	224	$1.6B	$73,109/yr
Ohio	19,980	252	$1.4B	$68,520/yr
California	18,652	339	$1.4B	$74,445/yr
North Carolina	17,492	169	$1.2B	$71,272/yr
Texas	15,619	226	$1.2B	$76,537/yr
Illinois	15,067	214	$1.1B	$75,520/yr
New York	14,117	176	$1.0B	$72,316/yr
Tennessee	12,056	123	$853.9M	$70,830/yr
Michigan	11,908	145	$825.5M	$69,322/yr

Showing top 10 of 45 states

SBA Lending Activity

SBA FY2020–2026

SBA Loans Approved

218

Total Loan Volume

$246M

Avg Loan Size

$1129K

Jobs Supported

2,838

Program Breakdown

7(a) 156 (72%)

504 62 (28%)

Top SBA Lender

WBD, Inc.

12 loans in this industry

New Business Share

21.6% of borrowers were new/startup businesses

Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

View SBA lending rankings →

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average revenue for Paper Manufacturing?

$178.5B in total annual receipts across all Paper Manufacturing businesses. Average per business: $57.3B.

How profitable is Paper Manufacturing?

6.8% net profit margin, below the national median.

How many businesses are in Paper Manufacturing?

3,813 business establishments. Together they employ 351,485 workers.

What is the average payroll per employee in Paper Manufacturing?

$75,350/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 92.2 employees per establishment.

Which states have the most Paper Manufacturing employment?

Wisconsin leads with 26,617 workers. Pennsylvania (21,606) and Ohio (19,980) round out the top three.

How much SBA lending does Paper Manufacturing receive?

Paper Manufacturing businesses received 218 SBA loans totaling $246 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $1129K. These loans supported 2,838 jobs at origination. Most lending (72%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.

Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers

Two IRS/Census peer sets for Paper Manufacturing, both at NAICS level 3 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Paper Manufacturing ranks #58 of 77 U.S. industries at the 3-digit NAICS level by total employment. According to IRS SOI 2013 IRS Statistics of Income, its reported pre-tax net margin ranks #19 of 75 at that same detail level.

Similar reported net margin

Nearest peer industries by ABS(IRS pre-tax margin) (6.8% here).

Miscellaneous Manufacturing 6.8% Ambulatory Health Care Services 6.7% Other Information Services 6.8%

Similar workforce scale

Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (351,485 here).

Primary Metal Manufacturing 354,914 Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing 355,594 Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing 369,456

Read with this industry: Understanding profit margins by industry · Manufacturing · 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 322 · 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 Accessed 2026-07-06

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.