Wholesale Trade ·NAICS 4247

NAICS 4247 · IRS SOI 2013 (C corp) · Census CBP 2023

Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers - Industry Benchmarks

$105,894/yr average annual pay, with 110 SBA loans on record for NAICS 4247.

0.1%
Net margin
102K
Workers employed
$105,894/yr
Avg payroll / employee
$93M
SBA lending, FY20–26

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · NAICS 4247

Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers runs a 0.1% pre-tax net margin - significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors - across 6K establishments employing 102K workers.

0.1%
Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
102K
Workers employed (Census CBP)
$105,894/yr
Avg payroll / employee
$93M
SBA lending, FY20–26

Use Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.

Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers 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 Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers

Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers sits inside Wholesale Trade at a 0.1% net margin (significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors), $699.7B in aggregate receipts across 7,083 returns, averaging $98.8B per establishment.

6,213 establishments employ 101,780 workers (16.4/location) at $105,894/yr average annual pay. Texas leads employment, followed by California and Illinois.

Profit Margin

0.1%

Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)

Total Receipts

$699.7B

Annual revenue (IRS SOI)

Net Income

$729.9M

Pre-tax net income

Employment

101,780

Total employees (Census CBP)

Avg Payroll / Employee

$105,894/yr

Annual compensation

Establishments

6,213

Business locations

Release-over-release change

What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023

Employment increased by 1,888; establishment count decreased by 112. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.

Subscribe to this industry's release updates (RSS)

Where each dollar of Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers revenue goes

Workforce scale

Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers margin vs national reference points

Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers net margin 0.3%
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
7,083 returns 100%

Margin: 0.1% · Receipts: $699.7B

Financial Detail

Total Tax Returns Filed
7,083
Avg Receipts per Business
$98.8B
Annual Payroll (Total)
$10.8B
Avg Employees per Establishment
16.4

Sub-Industries

Industry Profit Margin
Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers (except Bulk Stations and Terminals)

NAICS 42472

N/A
Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals

NAICS 42471

N/A

Top States by Employment

State Employment
Texas 18,715
California 7,480
Illinois 4,471
Louisiana 3,533
Michigan 3,422
Georgia 2,899
Pennsylvania 2,730
New York 2,677
Massachusetts 2,204
Indiana 2,148

Showing top 10 of 50 states

SBA Lending Activity

SBA FY2020–2026

SBA Loans Approved

110

Total Loan Volume

$93M

Avg Loan Size

$848K

Jobs Supported

969

Program Breakdown

7(a) 98 (89%)
504 12 (11%)

Top SBA Lender

Wells Fargo Bank National Association

6 loans in this industry

New Business Share

21.8% of borrowers were new/startup businesses

Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)

2020
15
2021
24
2022
18
2023
12
2024
19
2025
21
2026
1

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average revenue for Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers?
$699.7B in total annual receipts across all Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers businesses. Average per business: $98.8B.
How profitable is Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers?
0.1% net profit margin, significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors.
How many businesses are in Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers?
6,213 business establishments. Together they employ 101,780 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers?
$105,894/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 16.4 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers employment?
Texas leads with 18,715 workers. California (7,480) and Illinois (4,471) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers receive?
Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers businesses received 110 SBA loans totaling $93 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $848K. These loans supported 969 jobs at origination. Most lending (89%) 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.

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers ranks #172 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 #119 of 126 at that same detail level.

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 Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers

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 4247 · 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.

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.