Profit Margin
10.2%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Information ·NAICS 5121
NAICS 5121 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
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 July 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
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.
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.
Where each dollar of Motion Picture and Video Industries revenue goes
Workforce scale
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%/8%
Business Structure Breakdown
How businesses in this industry are legally structured (IRS SOI)
C Corporation
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 |
|---|---|
| Motion Picture and Video Distribution NAICS 51212 | N/A |
| Motion Picture and Video Exhibition NAICS 51213 | N/A |
| Motion Picture and Video Production NAICS 51211 | N/A |
| Postproduction Services and Other Motion Picture and Video Industries NAICS 51219 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 135,929 |
| Texas | 20,250 |
| Florida | 11,334 |
| Georgia | 8,988 |
| Illinois | 7,806 |
| North Carolina | 5,321 |
| Pennsylvania | 4,941 |
| Ohio | 4,719 |
| Washington | 4,590 |
| Virginia | 4,572 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA 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 27
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.
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: Motion Picture and Video Industries reports a higher net margin than 84% of the 126 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 64% 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.
Benchmarking Motion Picture and Video Industries
- Net margin: 10.2% vs sector. Browse Information
- 25,641 establishments, 307,031 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 992 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 5121 · 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.