Profit Margin
-17.7%
Net income ÷ total receipts (IRS SOI)
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services ·NAICS 5417
NAICS 5417 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Scientific Research and Development Services - Industry Benchmarks
$153,460/yr average annual pay, with 304 SBA loans on record for NAICS 5417.
- -17.7%
- Net margin
- 1.0M
- Workers employed
- $153,460/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $193M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 5417
Scientific Research and Development Services runs a -17.7% pre-tax net margin - significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors - across 22K establishments employing 1.0M workers.
- -17.7%
- Pre-tax net margin (IRS SOI)
- 1.0M
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $153,460/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $193M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Scientific Research and Development Services
Scientific Research and Development Services sits inside Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services at a -17.7% net margin (significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors), $60.8B in aggregate receipts across 79,526 returns, averaging $764.4M per establishment.
22,403 establishments employ 1,003,975 workers (44.8/location) at $153,460/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Massachusetts and New Jersey.
Total Receipts
$60.8B
Annual revenue (IRS SOI)
Net Income
$-10745249000
Pre-tax net income
Employment
1,003,975
Total employees (Census CBP)
Avg Payroll / Employee
$153,460/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
22,403
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 53,092; establishment count increased by 223. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Where each dollar of Scientific Research and Development Services revenue goes
Workforce scale
Scientific Research and Development Services margin vs national reference points
Scientific Research and Development Services net margin 0.0%
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
18,080 returns 23%
Margin: -20.1% · Receipts: $58.8B
Sole Proprietorship
61,446 returns 77%
Margin: 50.8% · Receipts: $2.0B
Financial Detail
- Total Tax Returns Filed
- 79,526
- Avg Receipts per Business
- $764.4M
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $154.1B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 44.8
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences NAICS 54171 | N/A |
| Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities NAICS 54172 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 212,852 |
| Massachusetts | 100,285 |
| New Jersey | 46,827 |
| North Carolina | 46,785 |
| New York | 40,970 |
| Texas | 40,307 |
| Illinois | 35,635 |
| Pennsylvania | 34,227 |
| Michigan | 34,215 |
| Virginia | 33,632 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
304
Total Loan Volume
$193M
Avg Loan Size
$635K
Jobs Supported
3,049
Program Breakdown
7(a) 255 (84%)
504 49 (16%)
Top SBA Lender
Newtek Bank, National Association
19 loans in this industry
New Business Share
24.0% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 45
2021 41
2022 46
2023 32
2024 64
2025 71
2026 5
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average revenue for Scientific Research and Development Services?
$60.8B in total annual receipts across all Scientific Research and Development Services businesses. Average per business: $764.4M.
How profitable is Scientific Research and Development Services?
-17.7% net profit margin, significantly below average, typical of high-volume, low-margin sectors.
How many businesses are in Scientific Research and Development Services?
22,403 business establishments. Together they employ 1,003,975 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Scientific Research and Development Services?
$153,460/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 44.8 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Scientific Research and Development Services employment?
California leads with 212,852 workers. Massachusetts (100,285) and New Jersey (46,827) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Scientific Research and Development Services receive?
Scientific Research and Development Services businesses received 304 SBA loans totaling $193 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $635K. These loans supported 3,049 jobs at origination. Most lending (84%) 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: Scientific Research and Development Services reports a higher net margin than 0% of the 126 IRS-tracked industries at the same NAICS detail level. Its Census employment total exceeds 86% 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.
- Coal Mining -11.8%
- Land Subdivision -2.4%
- Sound Recording Industries -1.9%
Closest workforce scale
Same NAICS detail level, ordered by the smallest difference in reported Census employment.
- Software Publishers 1,011,187
- Investigation and Security Services 1,011,407
- Automotive Repair and Maintenance 992,292
Benchmarking Scientific Research and Development Services
- Net margin: -17.7% vs sector. Browse Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- 22,403 establishments, 1,003,975 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 304 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 5417 · 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.