Profit Margin
4.6%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Transportation and Warehousing ·NAICS 488
NAICS 488 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Support Activities for Transportation - Industry Benchmarks
$66,808/yr average annual pay, with 2,595 SBA loans on record for NAICS 488.
- 4.6%
- Net margin
- 853K
- Workers employed
- $66,808/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $1.5B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 488
Support Activities for Transportation runs a 4.6% pre-tax net margin - below the national median - across 49K establishments employing 853K workers.
- 4.6%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 853K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $66,808/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $1.5B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Support Activities for Transportation
Support Activities for Transportation sits inside Transportation and Warehousing at a 4.6% net margin (below the national median), $252.4B in aggregate receipts across 43,975 returns, averaging $5.7B per establishment.
49,494 establishments employ 853,486 workers (17.2/location) at $66,808/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Florida.
Total Receipts
$252.4B
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$11.6B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
853,486
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$66,808/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
49,494
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 21,489; establishment count decreased by 551. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Where each dollar of Support Activities for Transportation revenue goes
Workforce scale
Support Activities for Transportation margin vs national reference points
Support Activities for Transportation net margin 15.3%
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
43,975 returns 100%
Margin: 4.6% · Receipts: $252.4B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 43,975
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $5.7B
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $57.0B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 17.2
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Freight Transportation Arrangement NAICS 4885 | N/A |
| Other Support Activities for Transportation NAICS 4889 | N/A |
| Support Activities for Air Transportation NAICS 4881 | N/A |
| Support Activities for Rail Transportation NAICS 4882 | N/A |
| Support Activities for Road Transportation NAICS 4884 | N/A |
| Support Activities for Water Transportation NAICS 4883 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 121,841 |
| Texas | 107,464 |
| Florida | 76,022 |
| Illinois | 48,189 |
| Georgia | 37,349 |
| New York | 36,816 |
| New Jersey | 32,151 |
| Pennsylvania | 26,472 |
| Washington | 22,980 |
| North Carolina | 19,664 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
2,595
Total Loan Volume
$1.5B
Avg Loan Size
$562K
Jobs Supported
24,834
Program Breakdown
7(a) 2,294 (88%)
504 301 (12%)
Top SBA Lender
The Huntington National Bank
222 loans in this industry
New Business Share
25.1% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 283
2021 368
2022 417
2023 424
2024 500
2025 539
2026 64
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Support Activities for Transportation?
$252.4B in total annual receipts across all Support Activities for Transportation businesses. Average per business: $5.7B.
How profitable is Support Activities for Transportation?
4.6% net profit margin, below the national median.
How many businesses are in Support Activities for Transportation?
49,494 business establishments. Together they employ 853,486 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Support Activities for Transportation?
$66,808/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 17.2 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Support Activities for Transportation employment?
California leads with 121,841 workers. Texas (107,464) and Florida (76,022) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Support Activities for Transportation receive?
Support Activities for Transportation businesses received 2,595 SBA loans totaling $1.5 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $562K. These loans supported 24,834 jobs at origination. Most lending (88%) 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: Support Activities for Transportation reports a higher net margin than 41% of the 79 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 49% 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.
Benchmarking Support Activities for Transportation
- Net margin: 4.6% vs sector. Browse Transportation and Warehousing
- 49,494 establishments, 853,486 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 2,595 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 488 · 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.