How many people are employed in Georgia?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Georgia has 4,374,151 employees across 260,283 business establishments in 970 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Georgia?

The largest industries in Georgia by employment are Limited-Service Restaurants (189,341), Full-Service Restaurants (175,639), and General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (173,300).

What is the average payroll in Georgia?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Georgia. The highest-paying tracked industry is Spectator Sports at $250,705/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Georgia?

Georgia has 260,283 business establishments across 970 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · GA · Census CBP 2023

Georgia Industry Benchmarks

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

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 970 industries in Georgia. Drill into any industry for a Georgia-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

4.4M
Workers: 260K
Establishments: 970
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Georgia

Georgia employs 4,374,151 workers across 970 tracked industries, led by Limited-Service Restaurants (189,341 workers).

No single sector dominates Georgia (lead 13%; top-three 36%). Margins stay on national industry pages.

Georgia sector employment mix

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

Georgia private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Georgia spreads employment across sectors: the largest, Health Care and Social Assistance, is only 13% of 4,374,151 private-sector workers (about the 84th percentile of states by employment). No single NAICS-2 block dominates the private labor market here.

GA breadth ledger · HHI 0.084
Sector	Workers	Share
Health Care and Social Assistance (62)	586,195	13%
Retail Trade (44)	513,434	12%
Accommodation and Food Services (72)	475,652	11%
Top-three cumulative 36% - 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 GA DISTRIBUTED · CBP

#8/51 · 4,374,151 workers · 260,283 firms

EMP 4,374,151
EST 260,283
RANK #8/51
PCT 84th pct
LEAD Health Care and Soci…
SHARE 13% lead
BAND distributed
DENS 16.8 /firm
BOOK 970 NAICS
PHOTO North Carolina

Nearest employment-scale peer: North Carolina (4,036,587 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Georgia ranks #8 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
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	189,341	9,735	$3.5B	$18,594/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	175,639	7,925	$4.4B	$24,955/yr
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals NAICS 622110	173,300	159	$12.8B	$73,642/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	126,118	1,282	$16.7B	$132,607/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	99,660	7,199	$10.0B	$100,449/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	56,907	6,792	$1.6B	$28,206/yr
Janitorial Services NAICS 561720	44,458	2,013	$1.3B	$29,109/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	43,887	2,157	$1.5B	$33,931/yr
Couriers and Express Delivery Services NAICS 492110	43,558	309	N/A	N/A
Custom Computer Programming Services NAICS 541511	42,463	2,537	$4.4B	$103,529/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	41,635	2,473	$4.4B	$104,744/yr
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	40,515	2,449	$1.1B	$26,041/yr
Computer Systems Design Services NAICS 541512	39,994	2,324	$5.1B	$126,392/yr
Elementary and Secondary Schools NAICS 611110	37,449	715	$1.6B	$41,835/yr
Home Health Care Services NAICS 621610	36,161	1,554	$1.4B	$38,949/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	36,055	618	$3.0B	$82,344/yr
Offices of Lawyers NAICS 541110	35,560	5,944	$4.0B	$111,690/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	33,250	3,101	$2.3B	$68,562/yr
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors NAICS 238210	32,920	2,491	$2.3B	$70,241/yr
Software Publishers NAICS 511210	32,216	531	$5.4B	$168,975/yr

Breadth peers near Georgia's private employment

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (4,374,151 in Georgia), excluding GA.

North Carolina 4,036,587 Michigan 4,012,577 New Jersey 3,923,631 Ohio 4,867,738 Virginia 3,566,772 Massachusetts 3,473,172 Illinois 5,659,820 Pennsylvania 5,684,514

Disclaimer: Georgia (GA) 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 Georgia businesses.

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

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

Data sourced from official public datasets for Georgia (GA). See our methodology.

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