How many people are employed in Virginia?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Virginia has 3,566,772 employees across 210,465 business establishments in 890 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Virginia?

The largest industries in Virginia by employment are Full-Service Restaurants (142,779), Limited-Service Restaurants (134,359), and General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (112,289).

What is the average payroll in Virginia?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Virginia. The highest-paying tracked industry is Commodity Contracts Dealing at $357,527/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Virginia?

Virginia has 210,465 business establishments across 890 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · VA · Census CBP 2023

Virginia Industry Benchmarks

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

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 890 industries in Virginia. Drill into any industry for a Virginia-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

3.6M
Workers: 210K
Establishments: 890
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Virginia

Virginia employs 3,566,772 workers across 890 tracked industries, led by Full-Service Restaurants (142,779 workers).

No single sector dominates Virginia (lead 15%; top-three 41%). Margins stay on national industry pages.

Virginia sector employment mix

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

Virginia private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Virginia spreads employment across sectors: the largest, Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, is only 15% of 3,566,772 private-sector workers (about the 76th percentile of states by employment). No single NAICS-2 block dominates the private labor market here.

VA breadth ledger · HHI 0.090
Sector	Workers	Share
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (54)	536,441	15%
Health Care and Social Assistance (62)	488,231	14%
Retail Trade (44)	423,568	12%
Top-three cumulative 41% - no single NAICS-2 block dominates.

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 VA DISTRIBUTED · CBP

#12/51 · 3,566,772 workers · 210,465 firms

EMP 3,566,772
EST 210,465
RANK #12/51
PCT 76th pct
LEAD Professional, Scient…
SHARE 15% lead
BAND distributed
DENS 16.9 /firm
BOOK 890 NAICS
PHOTO Massachusetts

Nearest employment-scale peer: Massachusetts (3,473,172 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Virginia ranks #12 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	142,779	7,154	$3.8B	$26,574/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	134,359	7,145	$2.7B	$20,229/yr
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals NAICS 622110	112,289	100	$9.1B	$80,932/yr
Computer Systems Design Services NAICS 541512	96,003	3,968	$11.7B	$122,006/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	95,195	1,034	$10.9B	$114,901/yr
Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services NAICS 541611	77,188	3,791	$9.2B	$118,939/yr
Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores NAICS 445110	76,967	1,483	$2.3B	$29,348/yr
Custom Computer Programming Services NAICS 541511	74,778	4,080	$8.6B	$114,474/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	73,269	4,759	$8.1B	$110,340/yr
Engineering Services NAICS 541330	73,170	2,309	$8.2B	$112,702/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	65,068	906	$3.7B	$57,072/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	46,429	6,213	$1.3B	$28,666/yr
Home Health Care Services NAICS 621610	40,875	1,478	$1.4B	$35,267/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	40,203	1,557	$1.4B	$33,616/yr
Janitorial Services NAICS 561720	38,660	2,136	$1.0B	$27,115/yr
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools NAICS 611310	37,321	170	$1.6B	$43,522/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	34,582	2,765	$2.4B	$68,796/yr
Security Guards and Patrol Services NAICS 561612	34,553	385	$1.7B	$48,771/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	33,869	2,262	$2.9B	$85,022/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	32,484	563	$2.4B	$72,470/yr

Breadth peers near Virginia's private employment

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (3,566,772 in Virginia), excluding VA.

Massachusetts 3,473,172 New Jersey 3,923,631 Michigan 4,012,577 North Carolina 4,036,587 Tennessee 2,971,191 Arizona 2,864,269 Minnesota 2,788,620 Georgia 4,374,151

Disclaimer: Virginia (VA) 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 Virginia businesses.

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

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

Data sourced from official public datasets for Virginia (VA). See our methodology.

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