Employment
957,341
Total employees (Census CBP)
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services ·NAICS 54171
NAICS 54171 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences - Industry Benchmarks
$156,464/yr average annual pay, with 265 SBA loans on record for NAICS 54171.
- 14.0%
- Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector margin
- 957K
- Workers employed
- $156,464/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $183M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 54171
California leads Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences activity nationally. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level, but the broader Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector runs a 14.0% net margin.
- 14.0%
- Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector margin (IRS SOI)
- 957K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $156,464/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $183M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences sits inside Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, a sector that runs a 14.0% net margin overall.
20,321 establishments employ 957,341 workers (47.1/location) at $156,464/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Massachusetts and New Jersey.
Avg Payroll / Employee
$156,464/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
20,321
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 54,402; establishment count increased by 249. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Workforce scale
Financial Detail
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $149.8B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 47.1
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) NAICS 541714 | N/A |
| Research and Development in Nanotechnology NAICS 541713 | N/A |
| Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) NAICS 541715 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 206,672 |
| Massachusetts | 97,905 |
| New Jersey | 45,702 |
| North Carolina | 41,844 |
| Maryland | 39,709 |
| Texas | 36,970 |
| Michigan | 33,371 |
| Pennsylvania | 33,159 |
| Illinois | 32,774 |
| New Mexico | 31,214 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
265
Total Loan Volume
$183M
Avg Loan Size
$692K
Jobs Supported
2,822
Program Breakdown
7(a) 217 (82%)
504 48 (18%)
Top SBA Lender
Newtek Bank, National Association
19 loans in this industry
New Business Share
22.6% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 36
2021 36
2022 41
2023 27
2024 57
2025 63
2026 5
Frequently Asked Questions
How profitable is Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences?
IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at the NAICS 54171 level. California leads this industry nationally. The broader Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector runs a 14.0% net margin (IRS SOI 2023).
How many businesses are in Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences?
20,321 business establishments. Together they employ 957,341 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences?
$156,464/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 47.1 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences employment?
California leads with 206,672 workers. Massachusetts (97,905) and New Jersey (45,702) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences receive?
Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences businesses received 265 SBA loans totaling $183 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $692K. These loans supported 2,822 jobs at origination. Most lending (82%) 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: Its Census employment total exceeds 94% of that same 551-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 workforce scale
Same NAICS detail level, ordered by the smallest difference in reported Census employment.
Benchmarking Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- No margin data, check the parent industry. Browse Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- 20,321 establishments, 957,341 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 265 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 54171 · 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.