Profit Margin
21.7%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing ·NAICS 531
NAICS 531 · IRS SOI 2013 (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Real Estate - Industry Benchmarks
$69,396/yr average annual pay, with 7,998 SBA loans on record for NAICS 531.
- 21.7%
- Net margin
- 1.8M
- Workers employed
- $69,396/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $5.5B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 531
Real Estate runs a 21.7% pre-tax net margin - well above the national average - across 415K establishments employing 1.8M workers.
- 21.7%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 1.8M
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $69,396/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $5.5B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Real Estate's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Real Estate 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 Real Estate
Real Estate sits inside Real Estate and Rental and Leasing at a 21.7% net margin (well above the national average), $288.9B in aggregate receipts across 600,231 returns, averaging $481.3M per establishment.
414,824 establishments employ 1,819,631 workers (4.4/location) at $69,396/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Florida and Texas.
Total Receipts
$288.9B
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$62.7B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
1,819,631
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$69,396/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
414,824
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 18,176; establishment count increased by 1,880. 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 Real Estate revenue goes
Workforce scale
Real Estate margin vs national reference points
Real Estate net margin 72.3%
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
600,231 returns
Margin: 21.7% · Receipts: $288.9B
Sole Proprietorship SOI 2022
1,433,998 returns
Margin: 32.0% · Receipts: $116.6B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 600,231
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $481.3M
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $126.3B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 4.4
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Activities Related to Real Estate NAICS 5313 | 6.0% |
| Lessors of Real Estate NAICS 5311 | 32.2% |
| Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers NAICS 5312 | 14.0% |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 250,572 |
| Florida | 164,840 |
| Texas | 162,423 |
| New York | 157,975 |
| Illinois | 58,642 |
| Georgia | 57,966 |
| Washington | 51,678 |
| North Carolina | 50,858 |
| Ohio | 50,728 |
| New Jersey | 49,995 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
7,998
Total Loan Volume
$5.5B
Avg Loan Size
$687K
Jobs Supported
50,560
Program Breakdown
7(a) 6,600 (83%)
504 1,398 (17%)
Top SBA Lender
Live Oak Banking Company
495 loans in this industry
New Business Share
33.5% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 1,100
2021 1,651
2022 1,409
2023 1,257
2024 1,199
2025 1,197
2026 185
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Real Estate?
$288.9B in total annual receipts across all Real Estate businesses. Average per business: $481.3M.
How profitable is Real Estate?
21.7% net profit margin, well above the national average.
How many businesses are in Real Estate?
414,824 business establishments. Together they employ 1,819,631 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Real Estate?
$69,396/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 4.4 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Real Estate employment?
California leads with 250,572 workers. Florida (164,840) and Texas (162,423) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Real Estate receive?
Real Estate businesses received 7,998 SBA loans totaling $5.5 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $687K. These loans supported 50,560 jobs at origination. Most lending (83%) 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: Real Estate reports a higher net margin than 97% of the 75 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 75% of that same 77-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.
- Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries 1,794,693
- Food Manufacturing 1,707,316
- Truck Transportation 1,693,228
Benchmarking Real Estate
- Net margin: 21.7% vs sector. Browse Real Estate and Rental and Leasing
- 414,824 establishments, 1,819,631 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 7,998 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 531 · 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.