Employment
101,459
Total employees (Census CBP)
Transportation and Warehousing ·NAICS 4883
NAICS 4883 · IRS SOI (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Support Activities for Water Transportation - Industry Benchmarks
96 SBA loans on record, $79M in volume, for NAICS 4883.
- 3K
- Establishments
- 101K
- Workers employed
- N/A
- Avg payroll / employee
- $79M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 4883
Louisiana leads Support Activities for Water Transportation activity nationally, across 3K establishments employing 101K workers. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level.
- 3K
- Business establishments (Census)
- 101K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- N/A
- Avg payroll / employee
- $79M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Support Activities for Water Transportation's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Support Activities for Water Transportation 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 (C corporation headline) and Census County Business Patterns 2023
Benchmarking Insights for Support Activities for Water Transportation
Support Activities for Water Transportation sits inside Transportation and Warehousing.
2,635 establishments employ 101,459 workers (38.5/location). Louisiana leads employment, followed by Georgia and New Jersey.
Support Activities for Water Transportation sits in the 33rd percentile for employment among 4-digit NAICS industries with reported data.
Avg Payroll / Employee
N/A
Annual compensation
Establishments
2,635
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment decreased by 1,983; establishment count increased by 18. 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)Workforce scale
Financial Detail
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 38.5
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Marine Cargo Handling NAICS 48832 | N/A |
| Navigational Services to Shipping NAICS 48833 | N/A |
| Other Support Activities for Water Transportation NAICS 48839 | N/A |
| Port and Harbor Operations NAICS 48831 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| Louisiana | 9,664 |
| Georgia | 6,319 |
| New Jersey | 5,946 |
| Maryland | 4,363 |
| New York | 2,182 |
| Pennsylvania | 2,071 |
| Alabama | 1,795 |
| Illinois | 1,082 |
| Hawaii | 907 |
| Alaska | 783 |
Showing top 10 of 42 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
96
Total Loan Volume
$79M
Avg Loan Size
$827K
Jobs Supported
1,469
Program Breakdown
7(a) 91 (95%)
504 5 (5%)
Top SBA Lender
Wells Fargo Bank National Association
5 loans in this industry
New Business Share
24.0% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 12
2021 17
2022 13
2023 14
2024 19
2025 20
2026 1
Frequently Asked Questions
How many businesses are in Support Activities for Water Transportation?
2,635 business establishments. Together they employ 101,459 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Support Activities for Water Transportation?
Average payroll data for Support Activities for Water Transportation is not available in the current Census CBP dataset.
Which states have the most Support Activities for Water Transportation employment?
Louisiana leads with 9,664 workers. Georgia (6,319) and New Jersey (5,946) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Support Activities for Water Transportation receive?
Support Activities for Water Transportation businesses received 96 SBA loans totaling $79 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $827K. These loans supported 1,469 jobs at origination. Most lending (95%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.
Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers
Two IRS/Census peer sets for Support Activities for Water Transportation, both at NAICS level 4 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Support Activities for Water Transportation ranks #173 of 259 U.S. industries at the 4-digit NAICS level by total employment.
Similar workforce scale
Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (101,459 here).
Read with this industry: Industry employment trends · Transportation and Warehousing · 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 4883 · CBP 2023 · IRS SOI
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.