State Overview · Census CBP 2023

Texas Industries

Employment and payroll benchmarks for 1298 industries in Texas

Reading the Texas Industry Picture

Texas (TX) shows 53,996,391 workers employed across 3,148,471 business establishments, covering 1298 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 program. That single-state footprint is a starting point for anyone benchmarking location strategy, evaluating a market for expansion, or simply understanding where jobs concentrate. The single largest employer-industry in Texas is Health Care and Social Assistance with 1,718,907 workers — a signal about what kind of labor market and supplier ecosystem the state actually supports.

Beyond the top employer, Retail Trade (1,382,827) and Accommodation and Food Services (1,355,419) fill out the top three, giving you a quick read on the state's economic base. Payroll dispersion is just as important as headcount: the highest-paying tracked industry (Finance and Insurance) pays $407,103/yr per employee, while the lowest-paying (Health Care and Social Assistance) pays $17,456/yr. That gap tells you how the state's median wage is being pulled up or down by its industry composition — critical context for anyone comparing cost of labor across markets.

Census CBP data does not include profit margins (that comes from IRS Statistics of Income at the national level only), so a full benchmark on any specific NAICS code in Texas requires combining this state page with the national industry page. Click any industry in the table below to drop into a Texas-specific NAICS view showing employment, establishments, annual payroll, and average compensation for that exact combination — then cross-reference the national page for profitability, entity structure, and SBA lending activity in the same industry.

Total Employment

53,996,391

Total Establishments

3,148,471

Industries Tracked

1298

Top Industries by Employment

Industry Employment
Health Care and Social Assistance

NAICS 62

1,718,907
Retail Trade

NAICS 44

1,382,827
Accommodation and Food Services

NAICS 72

1,355,419
Accommodation and Food Services

NAICS 722

1,231,785
Administrative and Support and Waste Management

NAICS 56

1,126,884
Accommodation and Food Services

NAICS 7225

1,126,293
Accommodation and Food Services

NAICS 72251

1,126,293
Administrative and Support and Waste Management

NAICS 561

1,084,591
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

NAICS 54

871,344
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

NAICS 541

871,344
Manufacturing

NAICS 31

869,062
Construction

NAICS 23

791,588
Health Care and Social Assistance

NAICS 621

779,487
Transportation and Warehousing

NAICS 48

650,795
Finance and Insurance

NAICS 52

643,854
Administrative and Support and Waste Management

NAICS 5613

615,645
Wholesale Trade

NAICS 42

566,990
Accommodation and Food Services

NAICS 722513

545,407
Accommodation and Food Services

NAICS 722511

493,197
Other Services (except Public Administration)

NAICS 81

485,701

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people are employed in Texas?
According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Texas has 53,996,391 employees across 3,148,471 business establishments in 1298 tracked industries.
What are the largest industries in Texas?
The largest industries in Texas by employment are Health Care and Social Assistance (1,718,907), Retail Trade (1,382,827), and Accommodation and Food Services (1,355,419).
What is the average payroll in Texas?
Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Texas. The highest-paying tracked industry is Finance and Insurance at $407,103/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.
How many businesses operate in Texas?
Texas has 3,148,471 business establishments across 1298 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.
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 · TX

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Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBizBench Editorial

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