Distillery Revenue Benchmark

Average Distillery Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census

The 2022 Economic Census counts every distillery with paid employees, from a craft distillery with a tasting room to a large spirits plant, and publishes their combined annual receipts. Dividing that total by the number of distilleries gives the average annual revenue per employer establishment shown below.

≈$14,645,000 /year

Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment

How this is calculated: about $18.8 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 1,286 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $14,645,000 per employer establishment.

Scope: Distilleries, NAICS 312140. The category covers establishments distilling, blending or mixing potable spirits such as whiskey, vodka, gin and rum, from craft distilleries to large plants. Brandy is counted with wineries, and industrial ethanol is a separate category. Classified separately in group 3121: 312111 Soft Drink Manufacturing; 312112 Bottled Water Manufacturing; 312113 Ice Manufacturing, 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

Beverage Manufacturing, NAICS 3121, 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 68.1 to 77.2 percent. This benchmark covers Beverage Manufacturing, NAICS 3121, as a whole, and this category accounts for 1,286 of the 12,276 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, Distilleries, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

Approximately 8.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll, a small share because a few large plants produce most of the volume with heavily automated equipment, and because spirits prices carry excise taxes and years of aging cost that have little to do with staffing.

Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and it excludes grain, barrels, bottles, federal and state excise taxes and distributor margins, none of which the census reports for this table.

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, Distilleries, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

The average establishment employed about 17.6 people, and the industry counted 1.1 employer establishments per firm. That staff count sits between a handful of very large producers and a much greater number of craft distilleries employing a few distillers and tasting room staff, and the establishments per firm figure shows that almost every distillery is a single-location business.

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

Distillery: reading a category where a few plants produce most of the spirits.

Before you rely on this benchmark

• Craft distillery or production plant? Large production plants can pull the arithmetic industry average well above the scale of a craft distillery, and this category includes both. A new distillery should treat this figure as a description of the category, not of its own prospects.
• How long does the product age? Whiskey and other aged spirits sit in barrels for years before they can be sold, tying up cash in warehouses while excise and storage costs accrue. Unaged spirits such as vodka and gin turn over faster, and the mix decides how much capital a distillery needs.
• What share of the price is tax? Federal excise tax on spirits is generally determined when they are removed from bond and is charged per proof gallon, and state taxes add more, so part of the shelf price is passed through rather than earned. Reduced federal rates for smaller producers change the picture for craft distilleries.
• Which channels are open? Tasting room sales, bottle sales to go and direct shipping depend on state law, and distributor agreements govern the rest. A distillery in a state that allows generous direct sales has a very different revenue model from one that must sell wholesale.
• Does the distillery make its own base spirit? Some producers ferment and distill from grain, while others buy neutral spirit or sourced whiskey and blend, flavor or bottle it. The choice changes equipment, labor and the story a brand can tell, and the census counts both in one category.
• What does the brand cost to build? Spirits sell on branding, and marketing, packaging and distributor incentives are large outlays for a producer trying to earn shelf space. That spending is a defining cost of the trade and appears nowhere in a receipts total.