Profit Margin
2.4%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Information ·NAICS 5111
NAICS 5111 · IRS SOI 2013 (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers - Industry Benchmarks
$79,130/yr average annual pay, with 135 SBA loans on record for NAICS 5111.
- 2.4%
- Net margin
- 251K
- Workers employed
- $79,130/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $79M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 5111
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers runs a 2.4% pre-tax net margin - significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors - across 14K establishments employing 251K workers.
- 2.4%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 251K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $79,130/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $79M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers 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 Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers sits inside Information at a 2.4% net margin (significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors), $16.5B in aggregate receipts across 3,757 returns, averaging $4.4B per establishment.
13,907 establishments employ 251,161 workers (18.1/location) at $79,130/yr average annual pay. New York leads employment, followed by California and Massachusetts.
Total Receipts
$16.5B
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$400.7M
Pre-tax net income
Employment
251,161
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$79,130/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
13,907
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment decreased by 26,658; establishment count decreased by 764. 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 Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers revenue goes
Workforce scale
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers margin vs national reference points
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers net margin 8.1%
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
3,757 returns 100%
Margin: 2.4% · Receipts: $16.5B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 3,757
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $4.4B
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $19.9B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 18.1
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Book Publishers NAICS 51113 | N/A |
| Directory and Mailing List Publishers NAICS 51114 | N/A |
| Newspaper Publishers NAICS 51111 | N/A |
| Other Publishers NAICS 51119 | N/A |
| Periodical Publishers NAICS 51112 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| New York | 35,785 |
| California | 18,439 |
| Massachusetts | 14,562 |
| Texas | 11,262 |
| Pennsylvania | 10,906 |
| New Jersey | 10,547 |
| Florida | 8,576 |
| Illinois | 8,349 |
| Missouri | 7,804 |
| Virginia | 6,541 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
135
Total Loan Volume
$79M
Avg Loan Size
$583K
Jobs Supported
1,305
Program Breakdown
7(a) 123 (91%)
504 12 (9%)
Top SBA Lender
Wells Fargo Bank National Association
13 loans in this industry
New Business Share
20.7% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (6 yrs)
2020 51
2021 47
2022 26
2023 8
2024 2
2025 1
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers?
$16.5B in total annual receipts across all Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers businesses. Average per business: $4.4B.
How profitable is Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers?
2.4% net profit margin, significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors.
How many businesses are in Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers?
13,907 business establishments. Together they employ 251,161 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers?
$79,130/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 18.1 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers employment?
New York leads with 35,785 workers. California (18,439) and Massachusetts (14,562) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers receive?
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers businesses received 135 SBA loans totaling $79 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $583K. These loans supported 1,305 jobs at origination. Most lending (91%) 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, Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers ranks #109 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 #100 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 Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers
- Net margin: 2.4% vs sector. Browse Information
- 13,907 establishments, 251,161 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 135 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 5111 · 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.
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.