Business Data & Benchmarks · United States
Charter Bus Company Revenue Benchmark
A charter bus company hires out motorcoaches with drivers to schools, sports teams, tour groups, churches, companies and event organizers, pricing by the day or the trip. Coach capital, driver availability, federal safety rules and a calendar driven by school trips, tours and events shape a trade where a single bus represents a large investment.
Average Charter Bus Company Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census
The 2022 Economic Census counts every charter bus company with paid employees and publishes their combined annual receipts. Dividing that total by the number of companies gives the average annual revenue per employer establishment shown below.
≈$3,610,000 /year
Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment
1,210
Employer establishments in the United States, 2022
as published $4.4 billion
Combined annual gross revenue of employer establishments, 2022
How this is calculated: about $4.4 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 1,210 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $3,610,000 per employer establishment.
Scope: Charter Bus Industry, NAICS 485510. The category covers charter bus services hired by groups for trips. School and employee buses, scheduled intercity buses and limousine services are counted in separate categories. 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
Payroll as a Share of Revenue Official data
Payroll divided by receipts, both as published for the same year.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual payroll share of receipts, United States | ≈34% |
Payroll share of receipts, Charter Bus Industry, United States, 2022 Economic Census.
Approximately 34.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll, a substantial share because drivers are paid for every trip and for the waiting time in between, in a business where coaches, fuel and insurance take much of the rest.
Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and it excludes coaches, fuel, tolls, insurance and maintenance, which together carry most of what a charter operator spends.
Business Scale and Ownership Structure Official data
How large the average establishment is, and whether the population is independent operators or multi-site companies.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Paid employees per employer establishment | 32 |
| Employer establishments per firm | 1.13 |
Scale and ownership, Charter Bus Industry, United States, 2022 Economic Census.
The average establishment employed about 32.0 people, and the industry averaged 1.1 employer establishments per firm, which confirms that multi-establishment ownership exists in the published population without showing how establishments are distributed across firms. As an illustration, that headcount could be a roster of drivers, dispatchers and mechanics for a fleet of coaches.
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.
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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
Charter Bus Company: what coaches, drivers and the group calendar do to the average.
Before you rely on this benchmark
- How many coaches are in the fleet? Revenue follows the number of coaches and the days each one works, so the average describes a whole operation and rises with fleet size. Revenue per coach per year is the number an operator manages.
- Who are the customers? School and college trips, tour operators, sports teams, corporate shuttles and casino runs each book on different terms and seasons, and an operator dependent on schools has quiet summers. The customer mix shapes revenue stability.
- Are there enough drivers? Commercial drivers with passenger endorsements are scarce in many regions, and a coach without a driver earns nothing. Driver recruitment and retention cap growth more than the fleet does.
- What does a coach cost to own? A motorcoach is a large capital purchase that must be financed, insured, inspected and maintained, and it ages whether or not it runs. Fleet cost per seat is a defining number outside a revenue figure.
- Which safety rules apply? Interstate charter operators are regulated under federal motor carrier rules on drivers, hours, inspections and insurance, with additional state requirements. Those rules add cost every year and keep casual entrants out of the trade.
- How much time is spent waiting? Charter work involves long waits at destinations and empty returns, and drivers are paid for that time whether or not the customer is. Utilization of driver hours shapes the payroll share on this page.
Sources and Methodology
Revenue, establishment counts, payroll, employment and firm counts on this page come from the 2022 Economic Census, Summary Statistics, published by the US Census Bureau. Averages and shares are BusinessNES calculations from those published totals, and each one names the two figures it divides.
The Census counts employer establishments, meaning each charter operator with paid staff. School and employee bus contractors, scheduled intercity buses and limousine services are counted in separate categories.
No continuation chart appears on this page because the Census Business Dynamics Statistics series for this industry group does not meet the quality threshold BusinessNES applies before showing one.