Business Data & Benchmarks · United States

General Rental Center Revenue Benchmark

Rental of tools, equipment and general goods to consumers and small contractors from a staffed counter.

NAICS 532310, 2022 editionUnited States data by defaultSources and dates shown

Average General Rental Center Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census

The 2022 Economic Census counts every general rental center with paid employees and publishes their combined annual receipts. Dividing one by the other gives the average annual revenue per employer establishment below.

≈$1,295,000 /year

Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment

2,434

Employer establishments in the United States, 2022

as published $3.2 billion

Combined annual gross revenue of employer establishments, 2022

How this is calculated: about $3.2 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 2,434 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $1,295,000 per employer establishment. This is the broad consumer and light commercial rental counter, distinct from the heavy machinery yards that serve contractors.

Scope: General Rental Centers, NAICS 532310. 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 July 2026

Employer Establishments at Year Five Endpoint only

General Rental Centers, NAICS 5323, the 2018 starting count compared with the count of five-year-old establishments in 2023.

33.8%the year-five count as a share of the starting count

Five-year establishment continuation benchmarkLine chart of industry continuation, endpoints only: 33.8 percent at 5 years. 201 establishments first reported paid employment in 2018; BusinessNES calculation from Census BDS.100%75%50%25%0%2014-2018 cohort range: 33.8 to 67.2 percentStart: 100 percent, the starting count5 years: 33.8 percent of the starting count100.033.8Start5 years201 establishments first reported paid employment in 2018; BusinessNES calculation from Census BDS.
Five years on, this industry group counted about 34 establishments aged five for every 100 that first reported paid employment in 2018. The count does not fall every year in this group, so only the two endpoints are drawn rather than a line implying a steady path. Census compares counts by age rather than following the same businesses, so read it as a broad continuation indicator for the industry group, not as a tracked survival rate.

Across the 2014 to 2018 cohorts, five-year results ranged from 33.8 to 67.2 percent. This category is effectively the whole group: 2,434 of the 2,434 employer establishments in it, so the group figure and the category figure describe nearly the same population. 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.

MeasureValue
Annual payroll share of receipts, United States≈23%

Payroll share of receipts, General Rental Centers, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

Approximately 23.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll. A counter must be staffed through opening hours whether or not the rack is empty, so the share reflects opening cover as much as demand.

Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and it excludes the rental fleet itself, its repair and its replacement, which is the largest commitment in this business.

Business Scale and Ownership Structure Official data

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

MeasureValue
Paid employees per employer establishment6.3
Employer establishments per firm1.27

Scale and ownership, General Rental Centers, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

The average establishment employed about 6.3 people, and the industry counted 1.3 employer establishments per firm.

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.

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 staffed counter rather than each company.