NAICS 3255 · IRS SOI 2013 (C corp) · Census CBP 2023

Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing - Industry Benchmarks

$76,867/yr average annual pay, with 131 SBA loans on record for NAICS 3255.

4.5%
Net margin: 78K
Workers employed: $76,867/yr
Avg payroll / employee: $102M
SBA lending, FY20–26

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · NAICS 3255

Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing runs a 4.5% pre-tax net margin - below the national median - across 2K establishments employing 78K workers.

4.5%
Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI): 78K
Workers employed (Census CBP): $76,867/yr
Avg payroll / employee: $102M
SBA lending, FY20–26

Use Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.

Paint, Coating, and Adhesive 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 Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing

Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing sits inside Manufacturing at a 4.5% net margin (below the national median), $55.8B in aggregate receipts across 1,633 returns, averaging $34.2B per establishment.

1,664 establishments employ 77,815 workers (46.8/location) at $76,867/yr average annual pay. Texas leads employment, followed by California and Illinois.

Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing sits in the 25th percentile for employment and the 44th percentile for net margin among 4-digit NAICS industries with reported data.

Profit Margin

4.5%

Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)

Total Receipts

$55.8B

Annual revenue (IRS SOI)

Net Income

$2.5B

Pre-tax net income

Employment

77,815

Total employees (Census CBP)

Avg Payroll / Employee

$76,867/yr

Annual compensation

Establishments

1,664

Business locations

Release-over-release change

What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023

Employment increased by 5,368; establishment count decreased by 17. 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 Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing revenue goes

Receipts decomposition, IRS Statistics of Income 2023 aggregate for Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing

Workforce scale

Establishment size, Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing (Census SUSB)

Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing margin vs national reference points

Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing net margin 14.9%

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

1,633 returns 100%

Margin: 4.5% · Receipts: $55.8B

Financial Detail

Total Tax Returns Filed: 1,633
Avg Receipts per Business: $34.2B
Annual Payroll (Total): $6.0B
Avg Employees per Establishment: 46.8

Sub-Industries

Industry	Profit Margin	Employment	Avg Payroll/Emp
Adhesive Manufacturing NAICS 32552	N/A	31,470	$79,729/yr
Paint and Coating Manufacturing NAICS 32551	N/A	46,345	$74,924/yr

Top States by Employment

State	Employment	Establishments	Annual Payroll	Avg Payroll/Emp
Texas	6,901	142	N/A	N/A
California	6,400	184	$503.6M	$78,685/yr
Illinois	6,380	111	N/A	N/A
Pennsylvania	4,159	75	$331.1M	$79,608/yr
North Carolina	3,681	56	$286.3M	$77,789/yr
Kentucky	2,959	30	$206.8M	$69,905/yr
Georgia	2,879	76	$226.0M	$78,514/yr
Missouri	2,598	39	$198.7M	$76,478/yr
South Carolina	1,758	29	$122.7M	$69,767/yr
Florida	1,394	92	$103.0M	$73,907/yr

Showing top 10 of 44 states

SBA Lending Activity

SBA FY2020–2026

SBA Loans Approved

131

Total Loan Volume

$102M

Avg Loan Size

$777K

Jobs Supported

1,353

Program Breakdown

7(a) 101 (77%)

504 30 (23%)

Top SBA Lender

U.S. Bank, National Association

5 loans in this industry

New Business Share

16.0% 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 Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing?

$55.8B in total annual receipts across all Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing businesses. Average per business: $34.2B.

How profitable is Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing?

4.5% net profit margin, below the national median.

How many businesses are in Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing?

1,664 business establishments. Together they employ 77,815 workers.

What is the average payroll per employee in Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing?

$76,867/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 46.8 employees per establishment.

Which states have the most Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing employment?

Texas leads with 6,901 workers. California (6,400) and Illinois (6,380) round out the top three.

How much SBA lending does Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing receive?

Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing businesses received 131 SBA loans totaling $102 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $777K. These loans supported 1,353 jobs at origination. Most lending (77%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.

Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers

Two IRS/Census peer sets for Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing, both at NAICS level 4 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing ranks #194 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 #71 of 126 at that same detail level.

Similar reported net margin

Nearest peer industries by ABS(IRS pre-tax margin) (4.5% here).

Boiler, Tank, and Shipping Container Manufacturing 4.5% Hardware, and Plumbing and Heating Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers 4.5% Machinery, Equipment, and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers 4.4%

Similar workforce scale

Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (77,815 here).

Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing 78,532 Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing 80,504 Communications Equipment Manufacturing 73,884

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 3255 · 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.