Profit Margin
2.9%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Wholesale Trade ·NAICS 423
NAICS 423 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods - Industry Benchmarks
$94,991/yr average annual pay, with 10,643 SBA loans on record for NAICS 423.
- 2.9%
- Net margin
- 3.6M
- Workers employed
- $94,991/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $8.3B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 423
Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods runs a 2.9% pre-tax net margin - significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors - across 225K establishments employing 3.6M workers.
- 2.9%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 3.6M
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $94,991/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $8.3B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods
Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods sits inside Wholesale Trade at a 2.9% net margin (significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors), $2.0T in aggregate receipts across 248,518 returns, averaging $8.0B per establishment.
225,021 establishments employ 3,633,921 workers (16.1/location) at $94,991/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Florida.
Total Receipts
$2.0T
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$57.3B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
3,633,921
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$94,991/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
225,021
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 75,159; establishment count decreased by 3,764. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Where each dollar of Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods revenue goes
Workforce scale
Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods margin vs national reference points
Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods net margin 9.6%
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
248,518 returns 100%
Margin: 2.9% · Receipts: $2.0T
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 248,518
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $8.0B
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $345.2B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 16.1
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Furniture and Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4232 | N/A |
| Hardware, and Plumbing and Heating Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4237 | 4.5% |
| Household Appliances and Electrical and Electronic Goods Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4236 | 1.8% |
| Lumber and Other Construction Materials Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4233 | 2.3% |
| Machinery, Equipment, and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4238 | 4.4% |
| Metal and Mineral (except Petroleum) Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4235 | 1.9% |
| Miscellaneous Durable Goods Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4239 | 2.1% |
| Motor Vehicle and Motor Vehicle Parts and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4231 | 1.7% |
| Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4234 | 4.9% |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 467,679 |
| Texas | 349,971 |
| Florida | 201,386 |
| Illinois | 186,700 |
| New York | 155,930 |
| Ohio | 151,550 |
| Pennsylvania | 146,428 |
| Georgia | 137,852 |
| New Jersey | 131,792 |
| North Carolina | 128,891 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
10,643
Total Loan Volume
$8.3B
Avg Loan Size
$780K
Jobs Supported
85,368
Program Breakdown
7(a) 9,099 (85%)
504 1,544 (15%)
Top SBA Lender
TD Bank, National Association
553 loans in this industry
New Business Share
17.3% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 1,351
2021 1,704
2022 1,514
2023 1,654
2024 2,123
2025 2,042
2026 255
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods?
$2.0T in total annual receipts across all Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods businesses. Average per business: $8.0B.
How profitable is Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods?
2.9% net profit margin, significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors.
How many businesses are in Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods?
225,021 business establishments. Together they employ 3,633,921 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods?
$94,991/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 16.1 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods employment?
California leads with 467,679 workers. Texas (349,971) and Florida (201,386) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods receive?
Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods businesses received 10,643 SBA loans totaling $8.3 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $780K. These loans supported 85,368 jobs at origination. Most lending (85%) 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: Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods reports a higher net margin than 22% of the 79 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 87% 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.
- Social Assistance 3,742,670
- Management of Companies and Enterprises 3,855,720
- Educational Services 3,926,820
Benchmarking Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods
- Net margin: 2.9% vs sector. Browse Wholesale Trade
- 225,021 establishments, 3,633,921 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 10,643 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 423 · 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.