How many people are employed in Florida?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Florida has 9,988,508 employees across 645,575 business establishments in 1116 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Florida?

The largest industries in Florida by employment are Professional Employer Organizations (1,684,968), Full-Service Restaurants (444,025), and General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (337,870).

What is the average payroll in Florida?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Florida. The highest-paying tracked industry is Portfolio Management at $293,222/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Florida?

Florida has 645,575 business establishments across 1116 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · FL · Census CBP 2023

Florida Industry Benchmarks

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

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 1116 industries in Florida. Drill into any industry for a Florida-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

10.0M
Workers: 646K
Establishments: 1116
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Florida

Florida employs 9,988,508 workers across 1116 tracked industries, led by Professional Employer Organizations (1,684,968 workers).

Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services anchors Florida; top-three cumulative share is 48%. Margins stay on national industry pages.

Florida sector employment mix

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

Florida private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services is the clear anchor in Florida (24% of 9,988,508 private-sector workers (about the 94th percentile of states by employment)), but sibling sectors still take meaningful shares. Read the treemap as an anchor-plus-breadth economy rather than a one-sector state.

#1 · NAICS 56

Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services

2,373,309 · 24%

#2 · NAICS 62

Health Care and Social Assistance

1,286,330 · 13%

#3 · NAICS 44

Retail Trade

1,146,619 · 11%

Anchor economy · Herfindahl 0.114 (open) · top-three 48% of Florida private payroll.

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 FL ANCHORED · CBP

#3/51 · 9,988,508 workers · 645,575 firms

EMP 9,988,508
EST 645,575
RANK #3/51
PCT 94th pct
LEAD Administrative and S…
SHARE 24% lead
BAND anchored
DENS 15.5 /firm
BOOK 1116 NAICS
PHOTO New York

Nearest employment-scale peer: New York (8,766,053 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Florida ranks #3 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
Professional Employer Organizations NAICS 561330	1,684,968	592	$107.6B	$63,859/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	444,025	18,200	$12.9B	$29,144/yr
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals NAICS 622110	337,870	300	$26.0B	$77,027/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	296,500	15,969	$6.0B	$20,224/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	232,978	19,994	$22.9B	$98,405/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	195,001	2,147	$9.5B	$48,695/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	172,564	2,076	$17.5B	$101,372/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	162,576	3,546	$7.0B	$42,859/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	99,785	9,407	$3.1B	$31,282/yr
Offices of Lawyers NAICS 541110	97,156	17,261	$11.4B	$117,439/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	96,849	4,896	$9.4B	$96,985/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	94,859	9,353	$5.8B	$60,792/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	88,860	1,303	$7.7B	$86,430/yr
Home Health Care Services NAICS 621610	85,211	3,476	$3.7B	$43,880/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	83,431	1,052	$3.5B	$42,444/yr
Landscaping Services NAICS 561730	78,430	10,670	$3.2B	$41,352/yr
Engineering Services NAICS 541330	76,849	5,260	$7.4B	$96,562/yr
Elementary and Secondary Schools NAICS 611110	75,545	1,785	$3.3B	$43,892/yr
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors NAICS 238210	70,151	6,492	$4.3B	$61,052/yr
Family Clothing Stores NAICS 448140	69,960	2,524	$1.5B	$21,089/yr

Scale peers for Florida's anchor economy

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (9,988,508 in Florida), excluding FL.

New York 8,766,053 Texas 12,011,416 Pennsylvania 5,684,514 Illinois 5,659,820 Ohio 4,867,738 Georgia 4,374,151 North Carolina 4,036,587 Michigan 4,012,577

Disclaimer: Florida (FL) 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 Florida businesses.

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

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

Data sourced from official public datasets for Florida (FL). See our methodology.

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