State overview · DE · Census CBP 2023
Delaware Industry Benchmarks
Employment, establishments, and payroll for 584 industries in Delaware. Drill into any industry for a Delaware-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.
- 435K
- Workers
- 28K
- Establishments
- 584
- Industries tracked
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · Delaware
Delaware employs 435,085 workers across 584 tracked industries, led by General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (22,894 workers) among the 243 detailed industries with published employment.
No single sector dominates Delaware (lead 18%; top-three 43%). Margins stay on national industry pages.
Delaware sector employment mix
Share of private-sector employment by NAICS-2 sector (Census CBP 2023). Tile area = workers.
Delaware spreads employment across sectors: the largest, Health Care and Social Assistance, is only 18% of 435,085 private-sector workers (about the 14th percentile of states by employment). No single NAICS-2 block dominates the private labor market here.
Not ranked: 4 of 20 sectors have no published employment figure. Census County Business Patterns applies 2% or more noise to those cells, and PlainBizBench publishes only low-noise figures rather than estimating. Total employment, shares and the mix on this page sum only the sectors with a published figure. How we handle withheld data.
| Sector | Workers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Health Care and Social Assistance (62) | 76,784 | 18% |
| Retail Trade (44) | 62,102 | 14% |
| Accommodation and Food Services (72) | 46,106 | 11% |
| Top-three cumulative 43% - 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 DE DISTRIBUTED · CBP
#44/51 · 435,085 workers · 28,148 firms
- EMP 435,085
- EST 28,148
- RANK #44/51
- PCT 14th pct
- LEAD Health Care and Soci…
- SHARE 18% lead
- BAND distributed
- DENS 15.5 /firm
- BOOK 584 NAICS
- PHOTO Hawaii
Nearest employment-scale peer: Hawaii (437,405 workers)
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Delaware ranks #44 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 →
DE in the employment-scale neighbourhood
Top Industries by Employment
Not ranked: 332 of 575 detailed industries have no published employment figure. Census County Business Patterns applies 2% or more noise to those cells, and PlainBizBench publishes only low-noise figures rather than estimating. Residential Remodelers (456), Offices of Other Holding Companies (375), Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses (338) and 169 more report more establishments than General Medical and Surgical Hospitals, so General Medical and Surgical Hospitals leads only among the 243 detailed industries with published employment. How we handle withheld data.
Breadth peers near Delaware's private employment
Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (435,085 in Delaware), excluding DE.
Source: Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 · DE
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.