How many people are employed in Maine?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Maine has 545,965 employees across 43,175 business establishments in 589 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Maine?

The largest industries in Maine by employment are General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (31,374), Full-Service Restaurants (22,469), and Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices (14,544).

What is the average payroll in Maine?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Maine. The highest-paying tracked industry is Wind Electric Power Generation at $198,045/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Maine?

Maine has 43,175 business establishments across 589 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · ME · Census CBP 2023

Maine Industry Benchmarks

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

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 589 industries in Maine. Drill into any industry for a Maine-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

546K
Workers: 43K
Establishments: 589
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Maine

Maine employs 545,965 workers across 589 tracked industries, led by General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (31,374 workers).

Health Care and Social Assistance anchors Maine; top-three cumulative share is 46%. Margins stay on national industry pages.

Maine sector employment mix

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

Maine private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Health Care and Social Assistance is the clear anchor in Maine (20% of 545,965 private-sector workers (about the 24th 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 62

Health Care and Social Assistance

108,627 · 20%

#2 · NAICS 44

Retail Trade

85,258 · 16%

#3 · NAICS 31

Manufacturing

57,987 · 11%

Anchor economy · Herfindahl 0.104 (open) · top-three 46% of Maine 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 ME ANCHORED · CBP

#39/51 · 545,965 workers · 43,175 firms

EMP 545,965
EST 43,175
RANK #39/51
PCT 24th pct
LEAD Health Care and Soci…
SHARE 20% lead
BAND anchored
DENS 12.6 /firm
BOOK 589 NAICS
PHOTO West Virginia

Nearest employment-scale peer: West Virginia (537,890 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Maine ranks #39 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	31,374	41	$2.6B	$83,402/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	22,469	1,446	$784.7M	$34,924/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	14,544	165	N/A	N/A
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	12,872	1,016	$325.0M	$25,252/yr
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools NAICS 611310	11,282	24	$435.2M	$38,575/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	9,982	492	$1.1B	$110,431/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	7,977	486	$362.2M	$45,404/yr
Residential Intellectual and Developmental Disability Facilities NAICS 623210	7,258	384	$316.9M	$43,667/yr
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities NAICS 624120	7,184	295	$238.2M	$33,159/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	6,470	97	$274.4M	$42,408/yr
Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores NAICS 447110	6,206	589	$176.8M	$28,496/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	5,760	112	$213.7M	$37,100/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	5,586	135	$429.6M	$76,913/yr
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars NAICS 722515	5,387	558	$124.1M	$23,039/yr
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	5,236	674	$158.9M	$30,350/yr
Home Health Care Services NAICS 621610	5,048	150	$258.5M	$51,217/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	4,783	781	$316.9M	$66,252/yr
General Warehousing and Storage NAICS 493110	4,759	56	$316.4M	$66,476/yr
Elementary and Secondary Schools NAICS 611110	4,480	121	$190.8M	$42,583/yr
Offices of Dentists NAICS 621210	4,205	457	$295.2M	$70,199/yr

Scale peers for Maine's anchor economy

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (545,965 in Maine), excluding ME.

West Virginia 537,890 New Hampshire 533,259 District of Columbia 520,480 New Mexico 628,423 Hawaii 437,405 Delaware 435,085 Idaho 686,709 Montana 401,056

Disclaimer: Maine (ME) 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 Maine businesses.

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

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

Data sourced from official public datasets for Maine (ME). See our methodology.

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