Profit Margin
6.0%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Transportation and Warehousing ·NAICS 48
NAICS 48 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Transportation and Warehousing - Industry Benchmarks
$61,391/yr average annual pay, with 20,312 SBA loans on record for NAICS 48.
- 6.0%
- Net margin
- 6.5M
- Workers employed
- $61,391/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $6.6B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 48
Transportation and Warehousing runs a 6.0% pre-tax net margin - below the national median - across 291K establishments employing 6.5M workers.
- 6.0%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 6.5M
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $61,391/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $6.6B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Transportation and Warehousing's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Transportation and Warehousing 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 Statistics of Income 2023 and Census County Business Patterns
Benchmarking Insights for Transportation and Warehousing
Transportation and Warehousing sits inside Transportation and Warehousing at a 6.0% net margin (below the national median), $2.1T in aggregate receipts.
291,155 establishments employ 6,548,924 workers (22.5/location) at $61,391/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Florida.
Total Receipts
$2.1T
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$123.7B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
6,548,924
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$61,391/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
291,155
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 440,803; establishment count decreased by 3,199. 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 Transportation and Warehousing revenue goes
Workforce scale
Transportation and Warehousing margin vs national reference points
Transportation and Warehousing net margin 19.9%
Cross-industry median (5%)
p25/median/p75 = 3%/5%/8%
Financial Detail
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $402.0B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 22.5
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Air Transportation NAICS 481 | -0.6% |
| Pipeline Transportation NAICS 486 | 10.8% |
| Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation NAICS 487 | -11.9% |
| Support Activities for Transportation NAICS 488 | 4.6% |
| Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation NAICS 485 | 2.1% |
| Truck Transportation NAICS 484 | 5.3% |
| Water Transportation NAICS 483 | 3.6% |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 788,706 |
| Texas | 650,795 |
| Florida | 376,370 |
| Illinois | 349,235 |
| Georgia | 319,353 |
| New York | 289,221 |
| Pennsylvania | 287,814 |
| Ohio | 263,527 |
| New Jersey | 237,710 |
| Tennessee | 188,529 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
20,312
Total Loan Volume
$6.6B
Avg Loan Size
$327K
Jobs Supported
145,307
Program Breakdown
7(a) 19,291 (95%)
504 1,021 (5%)
Top SBA Lender
The Huntington National Bank
5,067 loans in this industry
New Business Share
27.9% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 2,745
2021 3,168
2022 3,429
2023 3,593
2024 3,553
2025 3,474
2026 350
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Transportation and Warehousing?
$2.1T in total annual receipts across all Transportation and Warehousing businesses.
How profitable is Transportation and Warehousing?
6.0% net profit margin, below the national median.
How many businesses are in Transportation and Warehousing?
291,155 business establishments. Together they employ 6,548,924 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Transportation and Warehousing?
$61,391/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 22.5 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Transportation and Warehousing employment?
California leads with 788,706 workers. Texas (650,795) and Florida (376,370) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Transportation and Warehousing receive?
Transportation and Warehousing businesses received 20,312 SBA loans totaling $6.6 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $327K. These loans supported 145,307 jobs at origination. Most lending (95%) 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: Transportation and Warehousing reports a higher net margin than 21% of the 19 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 53% of that same 19-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.
- Wholesale Trade 6,236,357
- Finance and Insurance 6,991,623
- Other Services (except Public Administration) 5,616,494
Benchmarking Transportation and Warehousing
- Net margin: 6.0% vs sector. Browse Transportation and Warehousing
- 291,155 establishments, 6,548,924 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 20,312 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 48 · 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.