Employment
46,634
Total employees (Census CBP)
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services ·NAICS 54172
NAICS 54172 · IRS SOI 2023 · Census CBP
Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities - Industry Benchmarks
$91,802/yr average annual pay, with 39 SBA loans on record for NAICS 54172.
- 14.0%
- Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector margin
- 47K
- Workers employed
- $91,802/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $10M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated July 2026
The verdict · NAICS 54172
California leads Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities 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)
- 47K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $91,802/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $10M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Benchmarking Insights for Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities sits inside Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, a sector that runs a 14.0% net margin overall.
2,082 establishments employ 46,634 workers (22.4/location) at $91,802/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by District of Columbia and Virginia.
Avg Payroll / Employee
$91,802/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
2,082
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment decreased by 1,310; establishment count decreased by 26. 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)
- $4.3B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 22.4
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities NAICS 541720 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 6,180 |
| District of Columbia | 5,610 |
| Virginia | 3,795 |
| Massachusetts | 2,380 |
| New York | 2,090 |
| Pennsylvania | 1,068 |
| Michigan | 844 |
| Washington | 631 |
| Oregon | 500 |
| Georgia | 486 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
39
Total Loan Volume
$10M
Avg Loan Size
$246K
Jobs Supported
227
Program Breakdown
7(a) 38 (97%)
504 1 (3%)
Top SBA Lender
TD Bank, National Association
5 loans in this industry
New Business Share
33.3% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (6 yrs)
2020 9
2021 5
2022 5
2023 5
2024 7
2025 8
Frequently Asked Questions
How profitable is Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities?
IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at the NAICS 54172 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 Social Sciences and Humanities?
2,082 business establishments. Together they employ 46,634 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities?
$91,802/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 22.4 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities employment?
California leads with 6,180 workers. District of Columbia (5,610) and Virginia (3,795) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities receive?
Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities businesses received 39 SBA loans totaling $10 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $246K. These loans supported 227 jobs at origination. Most lending (97%) 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 36% 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.
- Tire and Tube Merchant Wholesalers 46,488
- Paint and Coating Manufacturing 46,345
- Urban Transit Systems 47,318
Benchmarking Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities
- No margin data, check the parent industry. Browse Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- 2,082 establishments, 46,634 workers. Payroll benchmarks
- 39 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 54172 · 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.