Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Virginia

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services in Virginia

NAICS 54151 · Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023

Benchmarking Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services in Virginia

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (NAICS 54151) in Virginia reports 204,399 workers across 9,439 establishments, with $24.3B of aggregate annual payroll flowing through Census CBP 2023 filings. That represents 10.0% 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 $118,876/yr, versus a national average of $122,296/yr. Virginia 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 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 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 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services national page (entity structure, SBA lending, sub-industries) and the Virginia overview (top employers, payroll dispersion across industries).

Employment

204,399

Establishments

9,439

Annual Payroll

$24.3B

Avg Payroll/Employee

$118,876/yr

Compare to National Average

Profit Margin (National)

N/A National

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

Avg Payroll/Employee

$118,876/yr Virginia
$122,296/yr National

Virginia vs National avg

Employment

204,399 Virginia
2,050,626 National

Virginia share of national

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services businesses are in Virginia?
There are 9,439 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (NAICS 54151) establishments in Virginia, according to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data. These establishments employ 204,399 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 $118,876/yr. The national average for this industry is $122,296/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 10.0% of national employment in Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, with 204,399 of 2,050,626 total US workers in this industry.
What is the profit margin for Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services?
Profit margin data for Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 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 54151 · 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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