Business Data & Benchmarks

Business Revenue Benchmarks – Page 9

How much annual revenue does a business generate? Compare gross revenue, continuation and survival benchmarks, and operating data across U.S. business types. Every figure shows its source, population and reference period.

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Every card opens a full benchmark with sources shown for each figure.

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Food and Drink 15 benchmarks Automotive 13 benchmarks Lodging 6 benchmarks Personal and Local Services 39 benchmarks Repair Services 6 benchmarks Construction 23 benchmarks Professional Services 40 benchmarks Health Care and Care Services 24 benchmarks Real Estate and Rental 15 benchmarks Business and Building Services 39 benchmarks Retail Stores 37 benchmarks Manufacturing and Fabrication 10 benchmarks

How these benchmarks are calculatedRead the BusinessNES data methodology→

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

What an average revenue figure is really telling you

For Census-based profiles, the headline benchmark divides the annual receipts the Census Bureau publishes for one business category by the number of employer establishments in it. A small number of profiles use another published industry source, and each page identifies its source and population. That simple division is what makes the figures honest and comparable across trades. It is also what makes each one a blunt instrument. The number is gross revenue, before rent, inventory, payroll and taxes have been paid, and for Census-based profiles it describes a staffed location rather than a person working alone.

Treat the result as an arithmetic industry average, not a median or a promise of what a typical business will earn. A category can blend the branches of a national chain with a family-run shop on a side street, and a few very large establishments can pull the average upward, which is why each profile states its scope and reference period. The useful question is not whether the figure looks big, but what a business of that size has to pay for before anyone takes anything home. The payroll share on each page is the first honest hint, and the notes beneath every table say what the figure includes and what it leaves out.

How owners use these benchmarks before committing money

Three habits come up again and again among people who read these pages well. The first is sizing: if the average establishment in a trade turns over a certain amount with a certain number of employees, you can ask what it would take to reach that level in your town, and whether your plan is describing an average business or an unusually small one. The second is buying: when a seller quotes revenue far above the category average, that gap is not a red flag by itself, but it is a question that deserves a documented answer before any deposit changes hands.

The third is comparing your own numbers. A payroll share that sits far from the category's can mean your model is different, which is fine, or that something is quietly wrong, which is worth finding early. Read every figure with its source and reference period beside it, and remember that an average describes the whole published population of a trade, not the business you are about to start or buy.