Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors · Wisconsin

Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors in Wisconsin

NAICS 238220 · Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023

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

Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (NAICS 238220) in Wisconsin reports 23,507 workers across 1,944 establishments, with $1.8B of aggregate annual payroll flowing through Census CBP 2023 filings. That represents 1.9% of national employment for this industry, a concentration ratio that tells you whether Wisconsin 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. Wisconsin accounts for 1.7% of the national Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors establishment count (1,944 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 Wisconsin is $78,674/yr, versus a national average of $73,693/yr. Wisconsin 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 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 Wisconsin overview (top employers, payroll dispersion across industries).

Employment

23,507

Establishments

1,944

Annual Payroll

$1.8B

Avg Payroll/Employee

$78,674/yr

Compare to National Average

Profit Margin (National)

N/A National

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

Avg Payroll/Employee

$78,674/yr Wisconsin
$73,693/yr National

Wisconsin vs National avg

Employment

23,507 Wisconsin
1,214,761 National

Wisconsin share of national

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors businesses are in Wisconsin?
There are 1,944 Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (NAICS 238220) establishments in Wisconsin, according to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data. These establishments employ 23,507 workers.
What is the average payroll for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors in Wisconsin?
The average annual payroll per employee for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors in Wisconsin is $78,674/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 Wisconsin compare nationally for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors?
Wisconsin accounts for 1.9% of national employment in Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors, with 23,507 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 · WI
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.