Employment
212,144
Total employees (Census CBP)
Information ·NAICS 5151
NAICS 5151 · IRS SOI (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Radio and Television Broadcasting - Industry Benchmarks
$90,606/yr average annual pay, with 42 SBA loans on record for NAICS 5151.
- 7.7%
- Information sector margin
- 212K
- Workers employed
- $90,606/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $42M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 5151
New York leads Radio and Television Broadcasting activity nationally. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level, but the broader Information sector runs a 7.7% net margin.
- 7.7%
- Information sector margin (IRS SOI)
- 212K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $90,606/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $42M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Radio and Television Broadcasting's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Radio and Television Broadcasting 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 (C corporation headline) and Census County Business Patterns 2023
Benchmarking Insights for Radio and Television Broadcasting
Radio and Television Broadcasting sits inside Information, a sector that runs a 7.7% net margin overall.
6,611 establishments employ 212,144 workers (32.1/location) at $90,606/yr average annual pay. New York leads employment, followed by California and Florida.
Radio and Television Broadcasting sits in the 52nd percentile for employment among 4-digit NAICS industries with reported data.
Avg Payroll / Employee
$90,606/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
6,611
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment decreased by 5,610; establishment count decreased by 399. 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)Workforce scale
Financial Detail
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $19.2B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 32.1
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Radio Broadcasting NAICS 51511 | N/A |
| Television Broadcasting NAICS 51512 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| New York | 41,952 |
| California | 28,931 |
| Florida | 15,230 |
| Texas | 10,943 |
| Virginia | 6,395 |
| Illinois | 6,054 |
| District of Columbia | 5,316 |
| Ohio | 5,293 |
| Wisconsin | 4,304 |
| North Carolina | 3,946 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
42
Total Loan Volume
$42M
Avg Loan Size
$992K
Jobs Supported
440
Program Breakdown
7(a) 41 (98%)
504 1 (2%)
Top SBA Lender
U.S. Bank, National Association
2 loans in this industry
New Business Share
21.4% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (3 yrs)
2020 19
2021 15
2022 8
Frequently Asked Questions
How profitable is Radio and Television Broadcasting?
IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at the NAICS 5151 level. New York leads this industry nationally. The broader Information sector runs a 7.7% net margin (IRS SOI 2013 C corp).
How many businesses are in Radio and Television Broadcasting?
6,611 business establishments. Together they employ 212,144 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Radio and Television Broadcasting?
$90,606/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 32.1 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Radio and Television Broadcasting employment?
New York leads with 41,952 workers. California (28,931) and Florida (15,230) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Radio and Television Broadcasting receive?
Radio and Television Broadcasting businesses received 42 SBA loans totaling $42 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $992K. These loans supported 440 jobs at origination. Most lending (98%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.
Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers
Two IRS/Census peer sets for Radio and Television Broadcasting, both at NAICS level 4 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Radio and Television Broadcasting ranks #125 of 259 U.S. industries at the 4-digit NAICS level by total employment.
Similar workforce scale
Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (212,144 here).
Read with this industry: Industry employment trends · 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 5151 · CBP 2023 · IRS SOI
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.