NAICS 5121 · IRS SOI 2013 (C corp) · Census CBP 2023

Motion Picture and Video Industries - Industry Benchmarks

$61,214/yr average annual pay, with 992 SBA loans on record for NAICS 5121.

10.2%
Net margin: 307K
Workers employed: $61,214/yr
Avg payroll / employee: $370M
SBA lending, FY20–26

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · NAICS 5121

Motion Picture and Video Industries runs a 10.2% pre-tax net margin - in line with the national median - across 26K establishments employing 307K workers.

10.2%
Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI): 307K
Workers employed (Census CBP): $61,214/yr
Avg payroll / employee: $370M
SBA lending, FY20–26

Use Motion Picture and Video Industries's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.

Motion Picture and Video Industries 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 Motion Picture and Video Industries

Motion Picture and Video Industries sits inside Information at a 10.2% net margin (in line with the national median), $108.1B in aggregate receipts across 31,072 returns, averaging $3.5B per establishment.

25,641 establishments employ 307,031 workers (12.0/location) at $61,214/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Florida.

Motion Picture and Video Industries sits in the 64th percentile for employment and the 88th percentile for net margin among 4-digit NAICS industries with reported data.

Profit Margin

10.2%

Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)

Total Receipts

$108.1B

Annual revenue (IRS SOI)

Net Income

$11.1B

Pre-tax net income

Employment

307,031

Total employees (Census CBP)

Avg Payroll / Employee

$61,214/yr

Annual compensation

Establishments

25,641

Business locations

Release-over-release change

What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023

Employment increased by 24,270; establishment count decreased by 272. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.

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Where each dollar of Motion Picture and Video Industries revenue goes

Receipts decomposition, IRS Statistics of Income 2023 aggregate for Motion Picture and Video Industries

Workforce scale

Establishment size, Motion Picture and Video Industries (Census SUSB)

Motion Picture and Video Industries margin vs national reference points

Motion Picture and Video Industries net margin 34.1%

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

31,072 returns 100%

Margin: 10.2% · Receipts: $108.1B

Financial Detail

Total Tax Returns Filed: 31,072
Avg Receipts per Business: $3.5B
Annual Payroll (Total): $18.8B
Avg Employees per Establishment: 12.0

Sub-Industries

Industry	Profit Margin	Employment	Avg Payroll/Emp
Motion Picture and Video Distribution NAICS 51212	N/A	2,525	$119,223/yr
Motion Picture and Video Exhibition NAICS 51213	N/A	122,339	$18,760/yr
Motion Picture and Video Production NAICS 51211	N/A	158,632	$86,308/yr
Postproduction Services and Other Motion Picture and Video Industries NAICS 51219	N/A	23,535	$106,536/yr

Top States by Employment

State	Employment	Establishments	Annual Payroll	Avg Payroll/Emp
California	135,929	9,110	$11.8B	$86,872/yr
Texas	20,250	1,290	$640.6M	$31,635/yr
Florida	11,334	1,458	$467.6M	$41,255/yr
Georgia	8,988	795	$347.1M	$38,622/yr
Illinois	7,806	734	$365.2M	$46,790/yr
North Carolina	5,321	500	N/A	N/A
Pennsylvania	4,941	487	$184.6M	$37,370/yr
Ohio	4,719	391	$123.0M	$26,066/yr
Washington	4,590	491	$194.8M	$42,433/yr
Virginia	4,572	346	$173.4M	$37,934/yr

Showing top 10 of 51 states

SBA Lending Activity

SBA FY2020–2026

SBA Loans Approved

992

Total Loan Volume

$370M

Avg Loan Size

$373K

Jobs Supported

6,959

Program Breakdown

7(a) 891 (90%)

504 101 (10%)

Top SBA Lender

Wells Fargo Bank National Association

71 loans in this industry

New Business Share

19.7% of borrowers were new/startup businesses

Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)

2020

105

2021

118

2022

144

2023

157

2024

217

2025

224

2026

View SBA lending rankings →

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average revenue for Motion Picture and Video Industries?

$108.1B in total annual receipts across all Motion Picture and Video Industries businesses. Average per business: $3.5B.

How profitable is Motion Picture and Video Industries?

10.2% net profit margin, in line with the national median.

How many businesses are in Motion Picture and Video Industries?

25,641 business establishments. Together they employ 307,031 workers.

What is the average payroll per employee in Motion Picture and Video Industries?

$61,214/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 12.0 employees per establishment.

Which states have the most Motion Picture and Video Industries employment?

California leads with 135,929 workers. Texas (20,250) and Florida (11,334) round out the top three.

How much SBA lending does Motion Picture and Video Industries receive?

Motion Picture and Video Industries businesses received 992 SBA loans totaling $370 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $373K. These loans supported 6,959 jobs at origination. Most lending (90%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.

Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers

Two IRS/Census peer sets for Motion Picture and Video Industries, both at NAICS level 4 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Motion Picture and Video Industries ranks #94 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 #15 of 126 at that same detail level.

Similar reported net margin

Nearest peer industries by ABS(IRS pre-tax margin) (10.2% here).

Offices of Dentists 10.1% Legal Services 10.4% Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing 9.9%

Similar workforce scale

Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (307,031 here).

Other Support Services 307,764 Medical Equipment and Supplies Manufacturing 308,388 Activities Related to Credit Intermediation 310,591

Read with this industry: Understanding profit margins by industry · Information · 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 5121 · 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 Accessed 2026-07-06

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.