Employment
866,822
Total employees (Census CBP)
Administrative and Support and Waste Management ·NAICS 56161
NAICS 56161 · IRS SOI (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services - Industry Benchmarks
$33,476/yr average annual pay, with 581 SBA loans on record for NAICS 56161.
- 3.9%
- Administrative and Support and Waste Management sector margin
- 867K
- Workers employed
- $33,476/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $212M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 56161
California leads Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services activity nationally. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level, but the broader Administrative and Support and Waste Management sector runs a 3.9% net margin.
- 3.9%
- Administrative and Support and Waste Management sector margin (IRS SOI)
- 867K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $33,476/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $212M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services 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 (C corporation headline) and Census County Business Patterns 2023
Benchmarking Insights for Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services
Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services sits inside Administrative and Support and Waste Management, a sector that runs a 3.9% net margin overall.
15,880 establishments employ 866,822 workers (54.6/location) at $33,476/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by New York and Texas.
Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services sits in the 94th percentile for employment among 5-digit NAICS industries with reported data.
Avg Payroll / Employee
$33,476/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
15,880
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 32,448; establishment count increased by 370. 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)Workforce scale
Financial Detail
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $29.0B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 54.6
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Armored Car Services NAICS 561613 | N/A |
| Investigation Services NAICS 561611 | N/A |
| Security Guards and Patrol Services NAICS 561612 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 165,860 |
| New York | 91,197 |
| Texas | 66,626 |
| Florida | 61,120 |
| Virginia | 37,864 |
| Illinois | 36,925 |
| Pennsylvania | 32,478 |
| Georgia | 26,369 |
| New Jersey | 25,820 |
| Maryland | 23,244 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
581
Total Loan Volume
$212M
Avg Loan Size
$365K
Jobs Supported
19,068
Program Breakdown
7(a) 551 (95%)
504 30 (5%)
Top SBA Lender
Newtek Bank, National Association
65 loans in this industry
New Business Share
19.8% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 44
2021 77
2022 62
2023 77
2024 128
2025 168
2026 25
Frequently Asked Questions
How profitable is Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services?
IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at the NAICS 56161 level. California leads this industry nationally. The broader Administrative and Support and Waste Management sector runs a 3.9% net margin (IRS SOI 2013 C corp).
How many businesses are in Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services?
15,880 business establishments. Together they employ 866,822 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services?
$33,476/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 54.6 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services employment?
California leads with 165,860 workers. New York (91,197) and Texas (66,626) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services receive?
Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services businesses received 581 SBA loans totaling $212 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $365K. These loans supported 19,068 jobs at origination. Most lending (95%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.
Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers
Two IRS/Census peer sets for Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services, both at NAICS level 5 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services ranks #35 of 551 U.S. industries at the 5-digit NAICS level by total employment.
Similar workforce scale
Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (866,822 here).
Read with this industry: Industry employment trends · Administrative and Support and Waste Management · 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 56161 · CBP 2023 · IRS SOI
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.