Employment
154,570
Total employees (Census CBP)
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation ·NAICS 7121
NAICS 7121 · IRS SOI (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions - Industry Benchmarks
$45,647/yr average annual pay, with 49 SBA loans on record for NAICS 7121.
- 3.8%
- Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation sector margin
- 155K
- Workers employed
- $45,647/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $47M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 7121
California leads Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions activity nationally. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level, but the broader Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation sector runs a 3.8% net margin.
- 3.8%
- Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation sector margin (IRS SOI)
- 155K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $45,647/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $47M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions 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 Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions
Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions sits inside Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation, a sector that runs a 3.8% net margin overall.
8,178 establishments employ 154,570 workers (18.9/location) at $45,647/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by New York and Texas.
Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions sits in the 44th percentile for employment among 4-digit NAICS industries with reported data.
Avg Payroll / Employee
$45,647/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
8,178
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 11,553; establishment count increased by 36. 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)
- $7.1B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 18.9
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Historical Sites NAICS 71212 | N/A |
| Museums NAICS 71211 | N/A |
| Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions NAICS 71219 | N/A |
| Zoos and Botanical Gardens NAICS 71213 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 19,379 |
| New York | 17,285 |
| Texas | 10,294 |
| Florida | 8,654 |
| Pennsylvania | 7,473 |
| Ohio | 6,643 |
| Illinois | 6,173 |
| Massachusetts | 5,300 |
| Virginia | 4,900 |
| Michigan | 4,425 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
49
Total Loan Volume
$47M
Avg Loan Size
$954K
Jobs Supported
593
Program Breakdown
7(a) 37 (76%)
504 12 (24%)
Top SBA Lender
Florida First Capital Finance
3 loans in this industry
New Business Share
44.9% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 6
2021 7
2022 6
2023 9
2024 8
2025 11
2026 2
Frequently Asked Questions
How profitable is Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions?
IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at the NAICS 7121 level. California leads this industry nationally. The broader Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation sector runs a 3.8% net margin (IRS SOI 2013 C corp).
How many businesses are in Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions?
8,178 business establishments. Together they employ 154,570 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions?
$45,647/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 18.9 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions employment?
California leads with 19,379 workers. New York (17,285) and Texas (10,294) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions receive?
Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions businesses received 49 SBA loans totaling $47 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $954K. These loans supported 593 jobs at origination. Most lending (76%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.
Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers
Two IRS/Census peer sets for Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions, both at NAICS level 4 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions ranks #145 of 259 U.S. industries at the 4-digit NAICS level by total employment.
Similar workforce scale
Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (154,570 here).
Read with this industry: Industry employment trends · Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation · 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 7121 · 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.