Profit Margin
9.9%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Manufacturing ·NAICS 3254
NAICS 3254 · IRS SOI 2013 (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing - Industry Benchmarks
$113,582/yr average annual pay, with 255 SBA loans on record for NAICS 3254.
- 9.9%
- Net margin
- 321K
- Workers employed
- $113,582/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $313M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 3254
Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing runs a 9.9% pre-tax net margin - in line with the national median - across 3K establishments employing 321K workers.
- 9.9%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 321K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $113,582/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $313M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Pharmaceutical and Medicine 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 Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing
Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing sits inside Manufacturing at a 9.9% net margin (in line with the national median), $424.5B in aggregate receipts across 1,600 returns, averaging $265.3B per establishment.
2,905 establishments employ 321,068 workers (110.5/location) at $113,582/yr average annual pay. New York leads employment, followed by New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing sits in the 66th percentile for employment and the 87th percentile for net margin among 4-digit NAICS industries with reported data.
Total Receipts
$424.5B
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$42.0B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
321,068
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$113,582/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
2,905
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 6,826; establishment count increased by 23. 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 Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing revenue goes
Workforce scale
Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing margin vs national reference points
Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing net margin 33.0%
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
1,600 returns 100%
Margin: 9.9% · Receipts: $424.5B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 1,600
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $265.3B
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $36.5B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 110.5
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing NAICS 32541 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| New York | 24,906 |
| New Jersey | 19,611 |
| Pennsylvania | 17,203 |
| Massachusetts | 14,555 |
| Michigan | 13,577 |
| Utah | 11,138 |
| Florida | 9,967 |
| Texas | 9,884 |
| Illinois | 9,879 |
| South Carolina | 7,545 |
Showing top 10 of 49 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
255
Total Loan Volume
$313M
Avg Loan Size
$1228K
Jobs Supported
4,081
Program Breakdown
7(a) 215 (84%)
504 40 (16%)
Top SBA Lender
Newtek Bank, National Association
12 loans in this industry
New Business Share
17.6% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 34
2021 54
2022 32
2023 34
2024 35
2025 61
2026 5
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing?
$424.5B in total annual receipts across all Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing businesses. Average per business: $265.3B.
How profitable is Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing?
9.9% net profit margin, in line with the national median.
How many businesses are in Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing?
2,905 business establishments. Together they employ 321,068 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing?
$113,582/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 110.5 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing employment?
New York leads with 24,906 workers. New Jersey (19,611) and Pennsylvania (17,203) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing receive?
Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing businesses received 255 SBA loans totaling $313 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $1228K. These loans supported 4,081 jobs at origination. Most lending (84%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.
Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers
Two IRS/Census peer sets for Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing, both at NAICS level 4 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing ranks #88 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 #17 of 126 at that same detail level.
Similar reported net margin
Nearest peer industries by ABS(IRS pre-tax margin) (9.9% here).
Similar workforce scale
Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (321,068 here).
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 3254 · 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.