Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors in North Carolina

Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (NAICS 238220) in North Carolina reports 45,037 workers across 3,973 establishments, with $2.8B of aggregate annual payroll flowing through Census CBP 2023 filings. That represents 3.7% of national employment for this industry, a concentration ratio that tells you whether North Carolina is a primary labor market for this NAICS code or a smaller satellite. A share above 5% signals a meaningful regional cluster; below 1% usually means the state is not a structural fit for this industry at scale. North Carolina accounts for 3.6% of the national Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors establishment count (3,973 of 111,207), according to Census County Business Patterns.

Wage benchmarking is where state-level data earns its keep. The average annual compensation for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors employees in North Carolina is $61,905/yr, versus a national average of $73,693/yr. North Carolina pays below the national average for this industry, common in lower cost-of-living states or where the industry has a smaller, less specialized local workforce.

Profitability data is only available at the national level because the IRS Statistics of Income program does not publish state-level margin breakdowns. The national net profit margin for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors is not reported, and while margins do vary by state, the direction of variance usually follows labor cost and establishment size, both shown above. For a complete picture, pair this state-industry view with the Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors national page (entity structure, SBA lending, sub-industries) and the North Carolina overview (top employers, payroll dispersion across industries).