Employment
101,459
Total employees (Census CBP)
Transportation and Warehousing ·NAICS 4883
NAICS 4883 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Support Activities for Water Transportation - Industry Benchmarks
96 SBA loans on record, $79M in volume, for NAICS 4883.
- 6.0%
- Transportation and Warehousing sector margin
- 101K
- Workers employed
- N/A
- Avg payroll / employee
- $79M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 4883
Louisiana leads Support Activities for Water Transportation activity nationally. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level, but the broader Transportation and Warehousing sector runs a 6.0% net margin.
- 6.0%
- Transportation and Warehousing sector margin (IRS SOI)
- 101K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- N/A
- Avg payroll / employee
- $79M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Support Activities for Water Transportation
Support Activities for Water Transportation sits inside Transportation and Warehousing, a sector that runs a 6.0% net margin overall.
2,635 establishments employ 101,459 workers (38.5/location). Louisiana leads employment, followed by Georgia and New Jersey.
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.
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 profitable is Support Activities for Water Transportation?
IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at the NAICS 4883 level. Louisiana leads this industry nationally. The broader Transportation and Warehousing sector runs a 6.0% net margin (IRS SOI 2023).
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.
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: Its Census employment total exceeds 33% 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 workforce scale
Same NAICS detail level, ordered by the smallest difference in reported Census employment.
Benchmarking Support Activities for Water Transportation
- No margin data, check the parent industry. Browse Transportation and Warehousing
- 2,635 establishments, 101,459 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 96 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 4883 · 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.