How many people are employed in Illinois?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Illinois has 5,659,820 employees across 321,887 business establishments in 1117 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Illinois?

The largest industries in Illinois by employment are Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices (225,210), General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (224,109), and Temporary Help Services (195,433).

What is the average payroll in Illinois?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Illinois. The highest-paying tracked industry is Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities at $302,948/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Illinois?

Illinois has 321,887 business establishments across 1117 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · IL · Census CBP 2023

Illinois Industry Benchmarks

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

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 1117 industries in Illinois. Drill into any industry for a Illinois-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

5.7M
Workers: 322K
Establishments: 1117
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Illinois

Illinois employs 5,659,820 workers across 1117 tracked industries, led by Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices (225,210 workers).

No single sector dominates Illinois (lead 15%; top-three 35%). Margins stay on national industry pages.

Illinois sector employment mix

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

Illinois private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Illinois spreads employment across sectors: the largest, Health Care and Social Assistance, is only 15% of 5,659,820 private-sector workers (about the 88th percentile of states by employment). No single NAICS-2 block dominates the private labor market here.

IL breadth ledger · HHI 0.083
Sector	Workers	Share
Health Care and Social Assistance (62)	857,043	15%
Retail Trade (44)	571,091	10%
Manufacturing (31)	544,438	10%
Top-three cumulative 35% - 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 IL DISTRIBUTED · CBP

#6/51 · 5,659,820 workers · 321,887 firms

EMP 5,659,820
EST 321,887
RANK #6/51
PCT 88th pct
LEAD Health Care and Soci…
SHARE 15% lead
BAND distributed
DENS 17.6 /firm
BOOK 1117 NAICS
PHOTO Pennsylvania

Nearest employment-scale peer: Pennsylvania (5,684,514 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Illinois ranks #6 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
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	225,210	1,732	$29.0B	$128,915/yr
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals NAICS 622110	224,109	208	$17.8B	$79,354/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	195,433	1,511	$7.9B	$40,209/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	189,552	10,622	$4.0B	$21,107/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	188,628	9,928	$5.5B	$29,404/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	106,595	6,775	$11.6B	$109,001/yr
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools NAICS 611310	93,566	157	$5.3B	$56,167/yr
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities NAICS 624120	88,337	1,137	$2.1B	$24,067/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	76,585	3,843	$8.9B	$116,713/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	66,392	793	$2.9B	$43,800/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	58,493	7,046	$1.7B	$29,524/yr
Couriers and Express Delivery Services NAICS 492110	58,388	369	N/A	N/A
Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services NAICS 541611	54,063	3,736	$9.1B	$168,017/yr
Offices of Lawyers NAICS 541110	52,434	6,918	$7.7B	$147,553/yr
Janitorial Services NAICS 561720	50,936	2,520	$1.6B	$32,355/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	44,712	889	$3.3B	$74,859/yr
Custom Computer Programming Services NAICS 541511	43,213	2,838	$5.3B	$123,310/yr
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	42,273	3,138	$1.4B	$33,359/yr
Professional Employer Organizations NAICS 561330	41,517	144	$3.0B	$71,454/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	41,112	4,070	$3.5B	$84,926/yr

Breadth peers near Illinois's private employment

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (5,659,820 in Illinois), excluding IL.

Pennsylvania 5,684,514 Ohio 4,867,738 Georgia 4,374,151 North Carolina 4,036,587 Michigan 4,012,577 New Jersey 3,923,631 Virginia 3,566,772 Massachusetts 3,473,172

Disclaimer: Illinois (IL) 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 Illinois businesses.

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

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

Data sourced from official public datasets for Illinois (IL). See our methodology.

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