Profit Margin
11.2%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Information ·NAICS 5112
NAICS 5112 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Software Publishers - Industry Benchmarks
$201,426/yr average annual pay, with 160 SBA loans on record for NAICS 5112.
- 11.2%
- Net margin
- 1.0M
- Workers employed
- $201,426/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $100M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 5112
Software Publishers runs a 11.2% pre-tax net margin - in line with the national median - across 18K establishments employing 1.0M workers.
- 11.2%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 1.0M
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $201,426/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $100M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Software Publishers
Software Publishers sits inside Information at a 11.2% net margin (in line with the national median), $197.7B in aggregate receipts across 11,508 returns, averaging $17.2B per establishment.
18,425 establishments employ 1,011,187 workers (54.9/location) at $201,426/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Massachusetts.
Total Receipts
$197.7B
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$22.2B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
1,011,187
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$201,426/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
18,425
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 136,480; establishment count increased by 987. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Where each dollar of Software Publishers revenue goes
Workforce scale
Software Publishers margin vs national reference points
Software Publishers net margin 37.4%
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
11,508 returns 100%
Margin: 11.2% · Receipts: $197.7B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 11,508
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $17.2B
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $203.7B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 54.9
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Software Publishers NAICS 51121 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 300,096 |
| Texas | 76,184 |
| Massachusetts | 57,916 |
| New York | 46,590 |
| Florida | 37,510 |
| Illinois | 32,688 |
| Georgia | 32,216 |
| Utah | 31,018 |
| Virginia | 25,789 |
| Colorado | 25,649 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
160
Total Loan Volume
$100M
Avg Loan Size
$625K
Jobs Supported
1,878
Program Breakdown
7(a) 156 (98%)
504 4 (2%)
Top SBA Lender
BayFirst National Bank
18 loans in this industry
New Business Share
20.6% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (6 yrs)
2020 50
2021 60
2022 25
2023 18
2024 4
2025 3
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Software Publishers?
$197.7B in total annual receipts across all Software Publishers businesses. Average per business: $17.2B.
How profitable is Software Publishers?
11.2% net profit margin, in line with the national median.
How many businesses are in Software Publishers?
18,425 business establishments. Together they employ 1,011,187 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Software Publishers?
$201,426/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 54.9 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Software Publishers employment?
California leads with 300,096 workers. Texas (76,184) and Massachusetts (57,916) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Software Publishers receive?
Software Publishers businesses received 160 SBA loans totaling $100 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $625K. These loans supported 1,878 jobs at origination. Most lending (98%) 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: Software Publishers reports a higher net margin than 85% of the 126 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 86% 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 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.
- Investigation and Security Services 1,011,407
- Gasoline Stations 1,016,960
- Scientific Research and Development Services 1,003,975
Benchmarking Software Publishers
- Net margin: 11.2% vs sector. Browse Information
- 18,425 establishments, 1,011,187 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 160 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 5112 · 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.