How many people are employed in Rhode Island?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Rhode Island has 394,740 employees across 27,272 business establishments in 573 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Rhode Island?

The largest industries in Rhode Island by employment are Full-Service Restaurants (22,883), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (21,605), and Limited-Service Restaurants (11,093).

What is the average payroll in Rhode Island?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Rhode Island. The highest-paying tracked industry is Portfolio Management at $214,698/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island has 27,272 business establishments across 573 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · RI · Census CBP 2023

Rhode Island Industry Benchmarks

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

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 573 industries in Rhode Island. Drill into any industry for a Rhode Island-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

395K
Workers: 27K
Establishments: 573
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Rhode Island

Rhode Island employs 394,740 workers across 573 tracked industries, led by Full-Service Restaurants (22,883 workers).

Health Care and Social Assistance anchors Rhode Island; top-three cumulative share is 48%. Margins stay on national industry pages.

Rhode Island sector employment mix

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

Rhode Island private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Health Care and Social Assistance is the clear anchor in Rhode Island (22% of 394,740 private-sector workers (about the 10th 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

85,644 · 22%

#2 · NAICS 72

Accommodation and Food Services

52,438 · 13%

#3 · NAICS 44

Retail Trade

49,704 · 13%

Anchor economy · Herfindahl 0.114 (open) · top-three 48% of Rhode Island 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 RI ANCHORED · CBP

#46/51 · 394,740 workers · 27,272 firms

EMP 394,740
EST 27,272
RANK #46/51
PCT 10th pct
LEAD Health Care and Soci…
SHARE 22% lead
BAND anchored
DENS 14.5 /firm
BOOK 573 NAICS
PHOTO Montana

Nearest employment-scale peer: Montana (401,056 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Rhode Island ranks #46 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
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	22,883	1,153	$683.1M	$29,853/yr
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools NAICS 611310	21,605	18	N/A	N/A
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	11,093	915	$268.7M	$24,221/yr
Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores NAICS 445110	10,446	204	$320.2M	$30,656/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	8,925	510	$1.0B	$114,571/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	8,207	86	$412.9M	$50,308/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	6,664	130	$342.3M	$51,370/yr
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars NAICS 722515	6,567	487	$141.1M	$21,489/yr
Elementary and Secondary Schools NAICS 611110	6,393	111	$334.4M	$52,301/yr
Home Health Care Services NAICS 621610	5,725	97	$250.1M	$43,684/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	4,427	158	$229.8M	$51,911/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	4,410	494	$335.8M	$76,137/yr
Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers NAICS 524126	4,297	65	N/A	N/A
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	4,032	279	$120.2M	$29,806/yr
Computer Systems Design Services NAICS 541512	4,022	146	N/A	N/A
Janitorial Services NAICS 561720	3,845	286	$118.4M	$30,783/yr
Offices of Lawyers NAICS 541110	3,807	681	$346.9M	$91,115/yr
Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters NAICS 452311	3,748	18	N/A	N/A
Residential Intellectual and Developmental Disability Facilities NAICS 623210	3,363	220	$148.5M	$44,148/yr
Pharmacies and Drug Stores NAICS 446110	3,352	149	$148.8M	$44,387/yr

Scale peers for Rhode Island's anchor economy

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (394,740 in Rhode Island), excluding RI.

Montana 401,056 Delaware 435,085 Hawaii 437,405 North Dakota 327,925 South Dakota 297,192 District of Columbia 520,480 Alaska 263,002 New Hampshire 533,259

Disclaimer: Rhode Island (RI) 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 Rhode Island businesses.

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

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

Data sourced from official public datasets for Rhode Island (RI). See our methodology.

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