How many people are employed in Indiana?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Indiana has 2,573,310 employees across 134,148 business establishments in 918 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Indiana?

The largest industries in Indiana by employment among the 411 detailed industries with published employment are General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (120,642), Limited-Service Restaurants (116,100), and Full-Service Restaurants (109,607).

What is the average payroll in Indiana?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Indiana. The highest-paying tracked industry is Securities and Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage at $167,442/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Indiana?

Indiana has 134,148 business establishments across 918 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · IN · Census CBP 2023

Indiana Industry Benchmarks

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

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 918 industries in Indiana. Drill into any industry for a Indiana-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

2.6M
Workers: 134K
Establishments: 918
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Indiana

Indiana employs 2,573,310 workers across 918 tracked industries, led by General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (120,642 workers) among the 411 detailed industries with published employment.

Manufacturing anchors Indiana; top-three cumulative share is 50%. Margins stay on national industry pages.

Indiana sector employment mix

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

Indiana private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Manufacturing is the clear anchor in Indiana (20% of 2,573,310 private-sector workers (about the 61st 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.

Not ranked: 2 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. Retail Trade (21,015) reports more establishments than Manufacturing, so Manufacturing leads only among the 18 sectors with published employment. Total employment, shares and the mix on this page sum only the sectors with a published figure. How we handle withheld data.

#1 · NAICS 31

Manufacturing

524,995 · 20%

#2 · NAICS 62

Health Care and Social Assistance

465,689 · 18%

#3 · NAICS 72

Accommodation and Food Services

291,843 · 11%

Anchor economy · Herfindahl 0.114 (open) · top-three 50% of Indiana 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 IN ANCHORED · CBP

#20/51 · 2,573,310 workers · 134,148 firms

EMP 2,573,310
EST 134,148
RANK #20/51
PCT 61st pct
LEAD Manufacturing
SHARE 20% lead
BAND anchored
DENS 19.2 /firm
BOOK 918 NAICS
PHOTO Wisconsin

Nearest employment-scale peer: Wisconsin (2,574,604 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Indiana ranks #20 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	120,642	129	$8.3B	$69,060/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	116,100	5,396	$2.1B	$17,803/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	109,607	4,796	$2.4B	$22,169/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	78,310	801	$2.6B	$32,909/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	55,211	701	$6.5B	$118,408/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	45,296	522	$1.9B	$41,535/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	43,961	5,296	$1.1B	$26,051/yr
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools NAICS 611310	39,382	75	$1.5B	$37,649/yr
Professional Employer Organizations NAICS 561330	35,443	66	$2.3B	$65,743/yr
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities NAICS 624120	31,778	856	$901.8M	$28,378/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	26,484	2,008	$2.0B	$76,427/yr
Home Health Care Services NAICS 621610	24,972	806	$979.2M	$39,213/yr
Couriers and Express Delivery Services NAICS 492110	24,827	218	N/A	N/A
Engineering Services NAICS 541330	23,892	1,024	$2.5B	$105,615/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	23,485	497	$1.7B	$71,231/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	22,890	1,789	$1.8B	$80,108/yr
All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing NAICS 326199	22,422	250	$1.1B	$49,579/yr
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Truckload NAICS 484121	22,298	1,776	$1.4B	$61,375/yr
Offices of Dentists NAICS 621210	20,655	2,246	$1.2B	$59,616/yr
Motor Vehicle Transmission and Power Train Parts Manufacturing NAICS 336350	20,273	43	$1.5B	$76,411/yr
Not ranked: employment not published †
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	Not published †	3,462	N/A	N/A
Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers NAICS 531210	Not published †	2,682	$380.0M	N/A
All Other General Merchandise Stores NAICS 452319	Not published †	1,322	N/A	N/A
Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services NAICS 541611	Not published †	1,286	N/A	N/A
Residential Intellectual and Developmental Disability Facilities NAICS 623210	Not published †	1,241	$493.3M	N/A

Not ranked: 435 of 846 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. Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) (3,462), Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers (2,682), All Other General Merchandise Stores (1,322) and 58 more report more establishments than General Medical and Surgical Hospitals, so General Medical and Surgical Hospitals leads only among the 411 detailed industries with published employment. How we handle withheld data.

Scale peers for Indiana's anchor economy

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (2,573,310 in Indiana), excluding IN.

Wisconsin 2,574,604 Colorado 2,555,107 Missouri 2,611,057 Maryland 2,458,634 Washington 2,749,118 Minnesota 2,788,620 Arizona 2,864,269 Tennessee 2,971,191

Disclaimer: Indiana (IN) 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 Indiana businesses.

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

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

Data sourced from official public datasets for Indiana (IN). See our methodology.

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