Profit Margin
1.3%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Manufacturing ·NAICS 331
NAICS 331 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Primary Metal Manufacturing - Industry Benchmarks
$83,673/yr average annual pay, with 319 SBA loans on record for NAICS 331.
- 1.3%
- Net margin
- 355K
- Workers employed
- $83,673/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $308M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 331
Primary Metal Manufacturing runs a 1.3% pre-tax net margin - significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors - across 4K establishments employing 355K workers.
- 1.3%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 355K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $83,673/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $308M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Primary Metal Manufacturing
Primary Metal Manufacturing sits inside Manufacturing at a 1.3% net margin (significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors), $279.8B in aggregate receipts across 5,454 returns, averaging $51.3B per establishment.
3,570 establishments employ 354,914 workers (99.4/location) at $83,673/yr average annual pay. Indiana leads employment, followed by Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Total Receipts
$279.8B
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$3.6B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
354,914
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$83,673/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
3,570
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 3,192; establishment count decreased by 9. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Where each dollar of Primary Metal Manufacturing revenue goes
Workforce scale
Primary Metal Manufacturing margin vs national reference points
Primary Metal Manufacturing net margin 4.3%
Cross-industry median (5%)
p25/median/p75 = 3%/5%/8%
Business Structure Breakdown
How businesses in this industry are legally structured (IRS SOI)
C Corporation
5,454 returns 100%
Margin: 1.3% · Receipts: $279.8B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 5,454
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $51.3B
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $29.7B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 99.4
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Alumina and Aluminum Production and Processing NAICS 3313 | N/A |
| Foundries NAICS 3315 | 9.5% |
| Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing NAICS 3311 | -0.2% |
| Nonferrous Metal (except Aluminum) Production and Processing NAICS 3314 | 1.1% |
| Steel Product Manufacturing from Purchased Steel NAICS 3312 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| Indiana | 38,300 |
| Ohio | 35,162 |
| Pennsylvania | 32,639 |
| Texas | 22,390 |
| Alabama | 19,281 |
| Illinois | 18,588 |
| Michigan | 17,934 |
| Kentucky | 13,009 |
| California | 11,550 |
| Tennessee | 11,437 |
Showing top 10 of 49 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
319
Total Loan Volume
$308M
Avg Loan Size
$966K
Jobs Supported
5,036
Program Breakdown
7(a) 257 (81%)
504 62 (19%)
Top SBA Lender
The Huntington National Bank
43 loans in this industry
New Business Share
11.6% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 58
2021 47
2022 46
2023 45
2024 64
2025 51
2026 8
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Primary Metal Manufacturing?
$279.8B in total annual receipts across all Primary Metal Manufacturing businesses. Average per business: $51.3B.
How profitable is Primary Metal Manufacturing?
1.3% net profit margin, significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors.
How many businesses are in Primary Metal Manufacturing?
3,570 business establishments. Together they employ 354,914 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Primary Metal Manufacturing?
$83,673/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 99.4 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Primary Metal Manufacturing employment?
Indiana leads with 38,300 workers. Ohio (35,162) and Pennsylvania (32,639) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Primary Metal Manufacturing receive?
Primary Metal Manufacturing businesses received 319 SBA loans totaling $308 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $966K. These loans supported 5,036 jobs at origination. Most lending (81%) 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.
How this ranks: Primary Metal Manufacturing reports a higher net margin than 6% of the 79 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 26% of that same 77-industry cohort. Calculated by ranking this industry's reported value against every other industry at the same NAICS digit-level, not the whole dataset: comparing a 6-digit detail industry to a 2-digit sector would mix incompatible scales.
Closest reported net margins
Same NAICS detail level, ordered by the smallest difference in reported IRS pre-tax margin.
Closest workforce scale
Same NAICS detail level, ordered by the smallest difference in reported Census employment.
Benchmarking Primary Metal Manufacturing
- Net margin: 1.3% vs sector. Browse Manufacturing
- 3,570 establishments, 354,914 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 319 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 331 · Data year: 2023
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.