Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Virginia

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services in Virginia

NAICS 54 · Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023

Benchmarking Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services in Virginia

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (NAICS 54) in Virginia reports 536,441 workers across 32,231 establishments, with $59.5B of aggregate annual payroll flowing through Census CBP 2023 filings. That represents 5.2% of national employment for this industry — a concentration ratio that tells you whether Virginia 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.

Wage benchmarking is where state-level data earns its keep. The average annual compensation for Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services employees in Virginia is $110,839/yr, versus a national average of $107,141/yr. Virginia pays above the national average for this industry, which usually reflects higher skill concentration, union density, or regional cost of living.

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 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services is 14.0%, 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 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services national page (entity structure, SBA lending, sub-industries) and the Virginia overview (top employers, payroll dispersion across industries).

Employment

536,441

Establishments

32,231

Annual Payroll

$59.5B

Avg Payroll/Employee

$110,839/yr

Compare to National Average

Profit Margin (National)

14.0% National

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

Avg Payroll/Employee

$110,839/yr Virginia
$107,141/yr National

Virginia vs National avg

Employment

536,441 Virginia
10,401,442 National

Virginia share of national

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services businesses are in Virginia?
There are 32,231 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (NAICS 54) establishments in Virginia, according to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data. These establishments employ 536,441 workers.
What is the average payroll for Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services in Virginia?
The average annual payroll per employee for Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services in Virginia is $110,839/yr. The national average for this industry is $107,141/yr. This data comes from the Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 survey.
How does Virginia compare nationally for Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services?
Virginia accounts for 5.2% of national employment in Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, with 536,441 of 10,401,442 total US workers in this industry. The national profit margin for this industry is 14.0% (state-level profit data is not available from Census).
What is the profit margin for Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services?
The national net profit margin for Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services is 14.0%, based on IRS Statistics of Income data. Note that state-level profit margin data is not available from Census Bureau sources — this figure reflects the nationwide average across all business entities.
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 54 · VA

Related

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

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

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