Profit Margin
1.9%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Wholesale Trade ·NAICS 4241
NAICS 4241 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers - Industry Benchmarks
$77,591/yr average annual pay, with 235 SBA loans on record for NAICS 4241.
- 1.9%
- Net margin
- 128K
- Workers employed
- $77,591/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $221M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 4241
Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers runs a 1.9% pre-tax net margin - significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors - across 8K establishments employing 128K workers.
- 1.9%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 128K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $77,591/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $221M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers
Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers sits inside Wholesale Trade at a 1.9% net margin (significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors), $56.2B in aggregate receipts across 8,356 returns, averaging $6.7B per establishment.
7,603 establishments employ 128,040 workers (16.8/location) at $77,591/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Illinois and New Jersey.
Total Receipts
$56.2B
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$1.1B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
128,040
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$77,591/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
7,603
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment decreased by 2,933; establishment count decreased by 246. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Where each dollar of Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers revenue goes
Workforce scale
Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers margin vs national reference points
Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers net margin 6.5%
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
8,356 returns 100%
Margin: 1.9% · Receipts: $56.2B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 8,356
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $6.7B
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $9.9B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 16.8
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Industrial and Personal Service Paper Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 42413 | N/A |
| Printing and Writing Paper Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 42411 | N/A |
| Stationery and Office Supplies Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 42412 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 13,116 |
| Illinois | 9,111 |
| New Jersey | 7,388 |
| New York | 6,907 |
| Texas | 6,481 |
| Georgia | 5,883 |
| Ohio | 4,864 |
| Pennsylvania | 4,431 |
| Massachusetts | 4,317 |
| North Carolina | 3,545 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
235
Total Loan Volume
$221M
Avg Loan Size
$939K
Jobs Supported
2,375
Program Breakdown
7(a) 203 (86%)
504 32 (14%)
Top SBA Lender
TD Bank, National Association
22 loans in this industry
New Business Share
17.0% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 32
2021 37
2022 34
2023 42
2024 46
2025 42
2026 2
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers?
$56.2B in total annual receipts across all Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers businesses. Average per business: $6.7B.
How profitable is Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers?
1.9% net profit margin, significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors.
How many businesses are in Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers?
7,603 business establishments. Together they employ 128,040 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers?
$77,591/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 16.8 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers employment?
California leads with 13,116 workers. Illinois (9,111) and New Jersey (7,388) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers receive?
Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers businesses received 235 SBA loans totaling $221 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $939K. These loans supported 2,375 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.
How this ranks: Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers reports a higher net margin than 14% of the 126 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 39% of that same 259-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.
- Performing Arts Companies 127,604
- Specialized Design Services 130,292
- Electrical Equipment Manufacturing 125,655
Benchmarking Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers
- Net margin: 1.9% vs sector. Browse Wholesale Trade
- 7,603 establishments, 128,040 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 235 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 4241 · 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.