How many people are employed in Alabama?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Alabama has 1,727,530 employees across 97,933 business establishments in 814 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Alabama?

The largest industries in Alabama by employment are General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (90,500), Limited-Service Restaurants (89,956), and Full-Service Restaurants (63,096).

What is the average payroll in Alabama?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Alabama. The highest-paying tracked industry is Securities and Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage at $202,737/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Alabama?

Alabama has 97,933 business establishments across 814 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · AL · Census CBP 2023

Alabama Industry Benchmarks

Name: Alabama Industry Employment and Payroll Benchmarks
Creator: PlainBizBench
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 814 industries in Alabama. Drill into any industry for a Alabama-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

1.7M
Workers: 98K
Establishments: 814
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Alabama

Alabama employs 1,727,530 workers across 814 tracked industries, led by General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (90,500 workers).

No single sector dominates Alabama (lead 16%; top-three 45%). Margins stay on national industry pages.

Alabama sector employment mix

Share of private-sector employment by NAICS-2 sector (Census CBP 2023). Tile area = workers.

Alabama private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Alabama spreads employment across sectors: the largest, Manufacturing, is only 16% of 1,727,530 private-sector workers (about the 53rd percentile of states by employment). No single NAICS-2 block dominates the private labor market here.

AL breadth ledger · HHI 0.105
Sector	Workers	Share
Manufacturing (31)	272,338	16%
Health Care and Social Assistance (62)	268,162	16%
Retail Trade (44)	238,329	14%
Top-three cumulative 45% - no single NAICS-2 block dominates.

Profit margins are national (IRS SOI); open any industry row below, then the matching national industry page for profitability.

Census CBP firm roll

County Business Patterns AL DISTRIBUTED · CBP

#24/51 · 1,727,530 workers · 97,933 firms

EMP 1,727,530
EST 97,933
RANK #24/51
PCT 53rd pct
LEAD Manufacturing
SHARE 16% lead
BAND distributed
DENS 17.6 /firm
BOOK 814 NAICS
PHOTO Kentucky

Nearest employment-scale peer: Kentucky (1,674,114 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Alabama ranks #24 of 51 states and territories by total private-sector employment (level-2 sector totals, the same non-double-counted aggregate shown above). Margins stay on national industry pages (IRS SOI). Read with this state → · Lead 6-digit industry →

Census CBP level-2 private employment among this state and nearest nationwide peers

Top Industries by Employment

Industry	Employment	Establishments	Annual Payroll	Avg Payroll/Emp
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals NAICS 622110	90,500	99	N/A	N/A
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	89,956	4,442	$1.6B	$18,060/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	63,096	2,771	$1.5B	$23,120/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	48,728	579	$1.6B	$32,489/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	38,726	2,665	$3.5B	$89,933/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	38,265	4,524	$920.2M	$24,048/yr
Engineering Services NAICS 541330	31,295	983	$3.4B	$108,890/yr
Poultry Processing NAICS 311615	23,866	35	$975.9M	$40,892/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	22,586	458	$2.5B	$109,006/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	21,436	222	$864.0M	$40,306/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	17,066	1,647	$1.1B	$62,186/yr
Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores NAICS 447110	16,181	2,921	$415.0M	$25,647/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	15,851	908	$442.1M	$27,888/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	15,734	346	$1.2B	$76,221/yr
Computer Systems Design Services NAICS 541512	15,097	549	N/A	N/A
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Truckload NAICS 484121	14,685	766	$803.6M	$54,725/yr
Pharmacies and Drug Stores NAICS 446110	12,868	866	$574.8M	$44,671/yr
Offices of Dentists NAICS 621210	12,589	1,402	$708.4M	$56,274/yr
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors NAICS 238210	12,467	1,013	$744.7M	$59,734/yr
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	12,163	988	$314.8M	$25,880/yr

Breadth peers near Alabama's private employment

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (1,727,530 in Alabama), excluding AL.

Kentucky 1,674,114 Louisiana 1,658,849 Oregon 1,635,645 Connecticut 1,527,746 Utah 1,512,504 South Carolina 2,054,515 Oklahoma 1,358,788 Iowa 1,306,260

Disclaimer: Alabama (AL) figures on this page are Census CBP employment and payroll counts for informational registry use only, not financial, tax, or business advice. Consult a qualified accountant for decisions about Alabama businesses.

Source: Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 · AL

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets for Alabama (AL). See our methodology.

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau → · Verify with IRS SOI →