Profit Margin
2.8%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Wholesale Trade ·NAICS 424
NAICS 424 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods - Industry Benchmarks
$85,510/yr average annual pay, with 6,798 SBA loans on record for NAICS 424.
- 2.8%
- Net margin
- 2.4M
- Workers employed
- $85,510/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $5.0B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 424
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods runs a 2.8% pre-tax net margin - significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors - across 122K establishments employing 2.4M workers.
- 2.8%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 2.4M
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $85,510/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $5.0B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods sits inside Wholesale Trade at a 2.8% net margin (significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors), $2.6T in aggregate receipts across 124,685 returns, averaging $21.1B per establishment.
122,098 establishments employ 2,358,648 workers (19.3/location) at $85,510/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and New York.
Total Receipts
$2.6T
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$72.8B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
2,358,648
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$85,510/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
122,098
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 24,227; establishment count decreased by 1,617. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Where each dollar of Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods revenue goes
Workforce scale
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods margin vs national reference points
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods net margin 9.2%
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
124,685 returns 100%
Margin: 2.8% · Receipts: $2.6T
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 124,685
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $21.1B
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $201.7B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 19.3
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Apparel, Piece Goods, and Notions Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4243 | 5.7% |
| Beer, Wine, and Distilled Alcoholic Beverage Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4248 | 2.7% |
| Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4246 | 3.5% |
| Drugs and Druggists' Sundries Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4242 | N/A |
| Farm Product Raw Material Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4245 | 0.9% |
| Grocery and Related Product Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4244 | 4.0% |
| Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4249 | 3.1% |
| Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4241 | 1.9% |
| Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 4247 | 0.1% |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 313,093 |
| Texas | 191,427 |
| New York | 150,620 |
| Florida | 147,703 |
| New Jersey | 133,210 |
| Illinois | 125,497 |
| Pennsylvania | 93,825 |
| Georgia | 74,009 |
| North Carolina | 71,822 |
| Ohio | 71,056 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
6,798
Total Loan Volume
$5.0B
Avg Loan Size
$740K
Jobs Supported
58,578
Program Breakdown
7(a) 5,859 (86%)
504 939 (14%)
Top SBA Lender
TD Bank, National Association
559 loans in this industry
New Business Share
16.7% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 780
2021 1,120
2022 973
2023 1,102
2024 1,274
2025 1,347
2026 202
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods?
$2.6T in total annual receipts across all Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods businesses. Average per business: $21.1B.
How profitable is Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods?
2.8% net profit margin, significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors.
How many businesses are in Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods?
122,098 business establishments. Together they employ 2,358,648 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods?
$85,510/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 19.3 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods employment?
California leads with 313,093 workers. Texas (191,427) and New York (150,620) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods receive?
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods businesses received 6,798 SBA loans totaling $5.0 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $740K. These loans supported 58,578 jobs at origination. Most lending (86%) 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.
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.
- Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations 2,676,522
- Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers 2,015,007
- Accommodation 1,963,343
Benchmarking Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods
- Net margin: 2.8% vs sector. Browse Wholesale Trade
- 122,098 establishments, 2,358,648 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 6,798 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 424 · 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.