Profit Margin
15.0%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services ·NAICS 5416
NAICS 5416 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services - Industry Benchmarks
$106,100/yr average annual pay, with 7,571 SBA loans on record for NAICS 5416.
- 15.0%
- Net margin
- 1.7M
- Workers employed
- $106,100/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $2.2B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 5416
Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services runs a 15.0% pre-tax net margin - above average for US industries - across 226K establishments employing 1.7M workers.
- 15.0%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 1.7M
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $106,100/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $2.2B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services
Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services sits inside Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services at a 15.0% net margin (above average for US industries), $336.7B in aggregate receipts across 1,343,821 returns, averaging $250.6M per establishment.
225,945 establishments employ 1,736,343 workers (7.7/location) at $106,100/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Florida.
Total Receipts
$336.7B
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$50.6B
Pre-tax net income
Employment
1,736,343
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$106,100/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
225,945
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 111,271; establishment count increased by 10,263. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Where each dollar of Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services revenue goes
Workforce scale
Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services margin vs national reference points
Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services net margin 50.1%
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
235,964 returns 18%
Margin: 6.0% · Receipts: $266.1B
Sole Proprietorship
1,107,857 returns 82%
Margin: 49.1% · Receipts: $70.7B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 1,343,821
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $250.6M
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $184.2B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 7.7
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Environmental Consulting Services NAICS 54162 | N/A |
| Management Consulting Services NAICS 54161 | N/A |
| Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services NAICS 54169 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 202,952 |
| Texas | 149,335 |
| Florida | 123,346 |
| New York | 118,483 |
| Virginia | 109,940 |
| Illinois | 105,175 |
| Pennsylvania | 60,828 |
| Georgia | 57,152 |
| Maryland | 56,808 |
| Massachusetts | 55,170 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
7,571
Total Loan Volume
$2.2B
Avg Loan Size
$294K
Jobs Supported
54,830
Program Breakdown
7(a) 7,305 (96%)
504 266 (4%)
Top SBA Lender
U.S. Bank, National Association
667 loans in this industry
New Business Share
25.2% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 746
2021 804
2022 893
2023 1,259
2024 1,713
2025 1,913
2026 243
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services?
$336.7B in total annual receipts across all Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services businesses. Average per business: $250.6M.
How profitable is Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services?
15.0% net profit margin, above average for US industries.
How many businesses are in Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services?
225,945 business establishments. Together they employ 1,736,343 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services?
$106,100/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 7.7 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services employment?
California leads with 202,952 workers. Texas (149,335) and Florida (123,346) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services receive?
Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services businesses received 7,571 SBA loans totaling $2.2 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $294K. These loans supported 54,830 jobs at origination. Most lending (96%) 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: Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services reports a higher net margin than 92% of the 126 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 94% 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.
- Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services 1,741,313
- Insurance Carriers 1,653,582
- Home Health Care Services 1,618,759
Benchmarking Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services
- Net margin: 15.0% vs sector. Browse Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- 225,945 establishments, 1,736,343 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 7,571 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 5416 · 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.