Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors · Tennessee

Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors in Tennessee

NAICS 238220 · Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023

Benchmarking Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors in Tennessee

Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (NAICS 238220) in Tennessee reports 25,248 workers across 1,899 establishments, with $1.7B of aggregate annual payroll flowing through Census CBP 2023 filings. That represents 2.1% of national employment for this industry, a concentration ratio that tells you whether Tennessee 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. Tennessee accounts for 1.7% of the national Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors establishment count (1,899 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 Tennessee is $66,028/yr, versus a national average of $73,693/yr. Tennessee 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 Tennessee overview (top employers, payroll dispersion across industries).

Employment

25,248

Establishments

1,899

Annual Payroll

$1.7B

Avg Payroll/Employee

$66,028/yr

Compare to National Average

Profit Margin (National)

N/A National

National avg, IRS SOI (no state-level profit data)

Avg Payroll/Employee

$66,028/yr Tennessee
$73,693/yr National

Tennessee vs National avg

Employment

25,248 Tennessee
1,214,761 National

Tennessee share of national

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors businesses are in Tennessee?
There are 1,899 Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (NAICS 238220) establishments in Tennessee, according to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data. These establishments employ 25,248 workers.
What is the average payroll for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors in Tennessee?
The average annual payroll per employee for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors in Tennessee is $66,028/yr. The national average for this industry is $73,693/yr. This data comes from the Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 survey.
How does Tennessee compare nationally for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors?
Tennessee accounts for 2.1% of national employment in Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors, with 25,248 of 1,214,761 total US workers in this industry.
What is the profit margin for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors?
Profit margin data for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors is not available in the current IRS SOI dataset.
Disclaimer: PlainBizBench provides publicly available IRS and Census data for informational purposes only. This is not financial, tax, or business advice. Consult a qualified accountant or financial advisor for business-specific guidance.
Source: Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 · NAICS 238220 · TN
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBizBench

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns / SUSB Industry employment scale, payroll, and firm-size benchmarks · 2025

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Every figure on PlainBizBench is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page compares this industry's state-level benchmark against the national figure, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

Disclaimer: Public IRS/Census data, not financial or tax advice. See our full disclaimer.