Bowling Center Revenue Benchmark

Average Bowling Center Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census

The 2022 Economic Census counts every bowling center with paid employees and publishes their combined annual receipts, including the bar, food and arcade sales many centers run alongside the lanes. Dividing that total by the number of centers gives the average annual revenue per employer establishment shown below.

≈$1,281,000 /year

Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment

How this is calculated: about $4.1 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 3,202 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $1,281,000 per employer establishment.

Scope: Bowling centers, NAICS 713950. The category covers bowling centers, which may also run a bar, food service and arcade games on the premises. Other amusement and recreation businesses are counted in separate categories. Classified separately in group 7139: 713910 Golf Courses and Country Clubs; 713920 Skiing Facilities; 713930 Marinas, and 2 further codes. Nothing outside that code is counted on this page.

Source US Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, Summary Statistics (ECNBASIC): ESTAB, RCPTOT and PAYANN by NAICS · Vintage 2022 Economic Census · Calculation BusinessNES · Accessed September 2026

Employer Establishments at Year Five Industry group

Other Amusement and Recreation Industries, NAICS 7139, the 2018 starting count compared with the count of five-year-old establishments in 2023.

Across the 2014 to 2018 cohorts, five-year results ranged from 51.7 to 56.0 percent. This benchmark covers Other Amusement and Recreation Industries, NAICS 7139, as a whole, and this category accounts for 3,202 of the 78,761 employer establishments in it. A count by age is not a survival rate, because the figures compare two headcounts rather than follow one set of businesses.

Payroll as a Share of Revenue Official data

Payroll divided by receipts, both as published for the same year.

Payroll share of receipts, Bowling centers, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

Approximately 29.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll, a modest share covering front desk, mechanics, bar and kitchen staff in a business where the lanes and the building do much of the work.

Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and it excludes food and beverage costs, pinsetter parts, lane maintenance and the occupancy cost of a large building, which are the other main outlays.

Business Scale and Ownership Structure Official data

How large the average establishment is, and whether the population is independent operators or multi-site companies.

Scale and ownership, Bowling centers, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

The average establishment employed about 19.5 people, and the industry counted 1.2 employer establishments per firm. A center of that size staffs the desk, the bar, the kitchen and the mechanics room across long hours, many roles part-time, and the establishments per firm figure shows a trade of mostly independent centers with some multi-site chains.

These are arithmetic industry averages. They state the size of the average establishment and show that multi-establishment ownership exists. They do not show the distribution of business sizes and they do not measure market concentration.

Explore More on BusinessNES

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Data Source Notice

This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.

Figures above are from the 2022 Economic Census reference year, released by the Census Bureau in 2024 and 2025; markets have moved since.

Questions Worth Asking BusinessNES analysis

Bowling Center: what leagues, lanes and the bar do to a single annual figure.

Before you rely on this benchmark

• How strong are the leagues? League bowlers commit to weekly play for a season and fill weeknights that open play would leave empty, and a center's league base can shrink over time in a market that loses bowlers. That base is the core of a center's stability and invisible in an average.
• Where does the revenue actually come from? Food, drinks, arcade games, parties and shoe rental can contribute materially alongside lane fees, and the mix varies by operating model and decides margins and staffing. A boutique bowling lounge and a traditional league house share this category with very different mixes.
• What do the lanes cost to maintain? Pinsetters, lane surfaces, oiling machines and scoring systems need constant maintenance and periodic replacement, and a mechanic is a standard part of the staff. Capital upkeep per lane is a defining cost outside this benchmark.
• How many lanes are behind the figure? The average blends small-town centers with a dozen lanes and large entertainment complexes with forty or more, so revenue per lane would be the fairer comparison, but lane counts are not published in this census table.
• How seasonal is the calendar? Leagues run from fall to spring, while summer depends on youth programs, parties and open play, and weather drives walk-in traffic. An annual total hides the quiet months a center must survive.
• Does the center own its building? Bowling requires a large, single-purpose building on a big lot, and whether it is owned, mortgaged or leased sets a fixed cost that revenue must cover. Rising land values can also make the property worth more than the business.