Interactive tool · IRS SOI corporation headline

Profit Margin Percentile Lookup

Free tool to place your business profit margin within the reported U.S. industry-group distribution. Data from IRS Statistics of Income.

75
Industry groups ranked
4.7%
Median margin

Enter a pre-tax net margin to see where it falls among the industry groups in this dataset.

The calculator compares an entered net margin with 75 reported three-digit NAICS industry groups from IRS Statistics of Income data. It is a directional peer check, not a valuation or tax conclusion: a company can differ from its industry because of size, business model, accounting choices, or timing. Review the methodology before relying on the percentile.

Source: IRS Statistics of Income Business Tax Statistics, 2023

Pre-tax net income divided by total receipts × 100. Negative values OK (loss).

Industry distribution snapshot

10th pct
1.9%
25th pct
2.9%
Median
4.7%
75th pct
6.8%
90th pct
10.3%

75 reported three-digit NAICS industry groups from IRS SOI Business Tax Statistics. This is a group-level distribution, and individual businesses can vary substantially within a group.

How to interpret your percentile

  • Below 25th percentile - Your margin is lower than 75% of ranked industries. Common in capital-intensive sectors (manufacturing, retail, transportation) where industry norms are 3-7%.
  • 25th–75th percentile - Within the typical range. Most service, construction, and trade businesses fall here.
  • Above 75th percentile - High-margin territory. Common in software, financial services, professional services with low cost of goods sold.
  • Above 90th percentile - Top decile. Software, regulated services, IP-licensing-heavy businesses.

Caveats

Industry-level percentiles don't tell the full story. Your margin is also a function of company stage (startups burn cash), geography (regional cost differences), scale (small businesses often have lower margins than incumbents), and accounting method (cash vs accrual changes timing). Use this as a starting point, for a full analysis, consult a CPA familiar with your sector.

Source & methodology

Margin data from IRS Statistics of Income, Business Tax Statistics. Profit margin = pre-tax net income ÷ total receipts, computed from tax returns aggregated to the reported three-digit NAICS groups. Percentile cutoffs use every group included in this tool's distribution.

Where your percentile points next

A percentile is a starting point; pair it with the closest reported NAICS group before drawing a conclusion.

Percentiles are computed across reported three-digit NAICS groups. Individual businesses can vary widely within a group, and margin also depends on stage, geography, scale, and accounting method.

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

Every figure on PlainBizBench is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This tool computes percentile ranks from every industry's live profit-margin data, then runs the lookup in your browser. 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.