How many people are employed in Ohio?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Ohio has 4,867,738 employees across 252,255 business establishments in 1071 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Ohio?

The largest industries in Ohio by employment are General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (275,683), Limited-Service Restaurants (204,250), and Full-Service Restaurants (188,916).

What is the average payroll in Ohio?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Ohio. The highest-paying tracked industry is Spectator Sports at $217,964/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Ohio?

Ohio has 252,255 business establishments across 1071 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · OH · Census CBP 2023

Ohio Industry Benchmarks

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

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 1071 industries in Ohio. Drill into any industry for a Ohio-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

4.9M
Workers: 252K
Establishments: 1071
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Ohio

Ohio employs 4,867,738 workers across 1071 tracked industries, led by General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (275,683 workers).

Health Care and Social Assistance anchors Ohio; top-three cumulative share is 44%. Margins stay on national industry pages.

Ohio sector employment mix

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

Ohio private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Health Care and Social Assistance is the clear anchor in Ohio (18% of 4,867,738 private-sector workers (about the 86th 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

883,961 · 18%

#2 · NAICS 31

Manufacturing

689,133 · 14%

#3 · NAICS 44

Retail Trade

560,620 · 12%

Anchor economy · Herfindahl 0.100 (open) · top-three 44% of Ohio 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 OH ANCHORED · CBP

#7/51 · 4,867,738 workers · 252,255 firms

EMP 4,867,738
EST 252,255
RANK #7/51
PCT 86th pct
LEAD Health Care and Soci…
SHARE 18% lead
BAND anchored
DENS 19.3 /firm
BOOK 1071 NAICS
PHOTO Georgia

Nearest employment-scale peer: Georgia (4,374,151 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Ohio ranks #7 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	275,683	194	$20.9B	$75,778/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	204,250	10,404	$3.7B	$18,198/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	188,916	7,698	$4.4B	$23,139/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	134,097	1,401	$5.4B	$40,476/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	107,516	5,551	$11.9B	$110,311/yr
Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores NAICS 445110	85,244	1,893	N/A	N/A
Professional Employer Organizations NAICS 561330	84,267	121	$4.6B	$54,331/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	79,159	961	$3.1B	$38,841/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	76,084	3,230	$7.2B	$95,164/yr
Home Health Care Services NAICS 621610	61,902	1,729	$2.2B	$34,739/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	59,961	7,911	$1.5B	$25,147/yr
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools NAICS 611310	53,628	125	$1.8B	$34,462/yr
Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers NAICS 524126	48,367	363	$4.9B	$101,539/yr
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities NAICS 624120	45,585	1,703	$1.3B	$28,386/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	44,630	873	$3.2B	$72,179/yr
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	37,950	2,813	$985.4M	$25,966/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	37,781	2,970	$2.7B	$71,083/yr
Elementary and Secondary Schools NAICS 611110	37,673	843	$1.6B	$41,873/yr
All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing NAICS 326199	35,563	372	$2.0B	$56,240/yr
Janitorial Services NAICS 561720	35,142	1,960	$917.3M	$26,102/yr

Scale peers for Ohio's anchor economy

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (4,867,738 in Ohio), excluding OH.

Georgia 4,374,151 Illinois 5,659,820 Pennsylvania 5,684,514 North Carolina 4,036,587 Michigan 4,012,577 New Jersey 3,923,631 Virginia 3,566,772 Massachusetts 3,473,172

Disclaimer: Ohio (OH) 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 Ohio businesses.

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

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

Data sourced from official public datasets for Ohio (OH). See our methodology.

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