How many people are employed in New York?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, New York has 8,766,053 employees across 540,629 business establishments in 1152 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in New York?

The largest industries in New York by employment are General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (421,734), Full-Service Restaurants (321,790), and Home Health Care Services (306,913).

What is the average payroll in New York?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in New York. The highest-paying tracked industry is Investment Banking and Securities Dealing at $542,453/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in New York?

New York has 540,629 business establishments across 1152 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · NY · Census CBP 2023

New York Industry Benchmarks

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

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 1152 industries in New York. Drill into any industry for a New York-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

8.8M
Workers: 541K
Establishments: 1152
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · New York

New York employs 8,766,053 workers across 1152 tracked industries, led by General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (421,734 workers).

Health Care and Social Assistance anchors New York; top-three cumulative share is 41%. Margins stay on national industry pages.

New York sector employment mix

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

New York private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Health Care and Social Assistance is the clear anchor in New York (21% of 8,766,053 private-sector workers (about the 92nd 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

1,861,291 · 21%

#2 · NAICS 44

Retail Trade

862,844 · 10%

#3 · NAICS 56

Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services

839,713 · 10%

Anchor economy · Herfindahl 0.096 (open) · top-three 41% of New York 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 NY ANCHORED · CBP

#4/51 · 8,766,053 workers · 540,629 firms

EMP 8,766,053
EST 540,629
RANK #4/51
PCT 92nd pct
LEAD Health Care and Soci…
SHARE 21% lead
BAND anchored
DENS 16.2 /firm
BOOK 1152 NAICS
PHOTO Florida

Nearest employment-scale peer: Florida (9,988,508 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, New York ranks #4 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	421,734	210	$40.0B	$94,817/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	321,790	19,661	$11.3B	$35,200/yr
Home Health Care Services NAICS 621610	306,913	1,360	$10.1B	$32,884/yr
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools NAICS 611310	265,885	281	$19.4B	$73,148/yr
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities NAICS 624120	254,740	2,729	$8.2B	$32,275/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	207,613	17,791	$5.1B	$24,336/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	203,837	2,280	$31.0B	$151,987/yr
Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores NAICS 445110	176,258	8,320	$5.4B	$30,514/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	155,394	1,431	$8.0B	$51,229/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	150,693	12,412	$14.6B	$97,116/yr
Offices of Lawyers NAICS 541110	114,660	11,745	$18.8B	$163,723/yr
Elementary and Secondary Schools NAICS 611110	105,368	1,766	$5.8B	$55,183/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	102,063	731	$5.8B	$56,665/yr
Security Guards and Patrol Services NAICS 561612	86,889	795	$2.8B	$32,421/yr
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	84,613	6,702	$2.9B	$34,560/yr
Portfolio Management NAICS 523920	79,725	2,533	$38.9B	$487,761/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	78,021	2,362	$4.5B	$57,720/yr
Janitorial Services NAICS 561720	76,457	3,762	$3.0B	$39,426/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	74,260	8,420	$2.3B	$31,543/yr
Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters NAICS 452311	68,687	285	N/A	N/A

Scale peers for New York's anchor economy

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (8,766,053 in New York), excluding NY.

Florida 9,988,508 Pennsylvania 5,684,514 Illinois 5,659,820 Texas 12,011,416 Ohio 4,867,738 Georgia 4,374,151 North Carolina 4,036,587 Michigan 4,012,577

Disclaimer: New York (NY) 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 York businesses.

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

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

Data sourced from official public datasets for New York (NY). See our methodology.

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