How many people are employed in New Jersey?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, New Jersey has 3,923,631 employees across 237,123 business establishments in 1048 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in New Jersey?

The largest industries in New Jersey by employment are General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (152,705), Temporary Help Services (131,793), and Full-Service Restaurants (129,043).

What is the average payroll in New Jersey?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in New Jersey. The highest-paying tracked industry is Sports Teams and Clubs at $685,370/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in New Jersey?

New Jersey has 237,123 business establishments across 1048 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · NJ · Census CBP 2023

New Jersey Industry Benchmarks

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

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 1048 industries in New Jersey. Drill into any industry for a New Jersey-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

3.9M
Workers: 237K
Establishments: 1048
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · New Jersey

New Jersey employs 3,923,631 workers across 1048 tracked industries, led by General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (152,705 workers).

No single sector dominates New Jersey (lead 16%; top-three 38%). Margins stay on national industry pages.

New Jersey sector employment mix

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

New Jersey private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

New Jersey spreads employment across sectors: the largest, Health Care and Social Assistance, is only 16% of 3,923,631 private-sector workers (about the 78th percentile of states by employment). No single NAICS-2 block dominates the private labor market here.

NJ breadth ledger · HHI 0.087
Sector	Workers	Share
Health Care and Social Assistance (62)	635,422	16%
Retail Trade (44)	465,759	12%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services (56)	395,891	10%
Top-three cumulative 38% - 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 NJ DISTRIBUTED · CBP

#11/51 · 3,923,631 workers · 237,123 firms

EMP 3,923,631
EST 237,123
RANK #11/51
PCT 78th pct
LEAD Health Care and Soci…
SHARE 16% lead
BAND distributed
DENS 16.5 /firm
BOOK 1048 NAICS
PHOTO Michigan

Nearest employment-scale peer: Michigan (4,012,577 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, New Jersey ranks #11 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	152,705	87	$12.6B	$82,453/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	131,793	1,188	$5.3B	$39,944/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	129,043	8,060	$4.0B	$30,635/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	113,188	1,174	$17.1B	$150,832/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	91,759	7,670	$2.1B	$22,825/yr
Professional Employer Organizations NAICS 561330	90,416	176	$6.3B	$69,173/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	79,349	7,335	$8.7B	$110,055/yr
Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores NAICS 445110	78,043	2,405	$2.6B	$33,655/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	53,658	2,202	N/A	N/A
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	51,119	537	$2.5B	$49,286/yr
Custom Computer Programming Services NAICS 541511	49,196	2,965	$5.4B	$109,441/yr
Home Health Care Services NAICS 621610	46,767	988	$2.2B	$46,778/yr
Elementary and Secondary Schools NAICS 611110	44,721	809	$2.2B	$49,649/yr
Couriers and Express Delivery Services NAICS 492110	44,117	355	N/A	N/A
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	41,650	2,466	$1.3B	$30,386/yr
Janitorial Services NAICS 561720	34,413	2,068	$1.0B	$30,317/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	33,286	4,141	$968.6M	$29,099/yr
Offices of Dentists NAICS 621210	33,254	4,511	$1.9B	$58,479/yr
Offices of Lawyers NAICS 541110	32,680	4,788	$3.8B	$116,335/yr
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities NAICS 624120	31,878	1,005	$1.1B	$33,239/yr

Breadth peers near New Jersey's private employment

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (3,923,631 in New Jersey), excluding NJ.

Michigan 4,012,577 North Carolina 4,036,587 Virginia 3,566,772 Massachusetts 3,473,172 Georgia 4,374,151 Ohio 4,867,738 Tennessee 2,971,191 Arizona 2,864,269

Disclaimer: New Jersey (NJ) 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 New Jersey businesses.

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

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

Data sourced from official public datasets for New Jersey (NJ). See our methodology.

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