Business Data & Benchmarks · United States

Paint and Wallpaper Store Revenue Benchmark

Stores selling paint, wallcoverings and related supplies to households and painting trades.

NAICS 444120, 2022 editionUnited States data by defaultSources and dates shown

Average Paint and Wallpaper Store Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census

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

≈$2,171,000 /year

Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment

7,364

Employer establishments in the United States, 2022

as published $16 billion

Combined annual gross revenue of employer establishments, 2022

How this is calculated: about $16 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 7,364 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $2,171,000 per employer establishment. Manufacturer-owned store networks and independent dealers are averaged together in that figure.

Scope: Paint and Wallpaper Retailers, NAICS 444120. Classified separately in group 4441: 444110 Home Centers; 444140 Hardware Retailers; 444180 Other Building Material Dealers. 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 Industry group

Building material and supplies dealers, NAICS 4441, the 2018 starting count compared with the count of five-year-old establishments in 2023.

71.5%the year-five count as a share of the starting count

Five-year establishment continuation benchmarkLine chart of industry continuation: 90.0 percent at 1 year, 83.6 percent at 2 years, 77.8 percent at 3 years, 74.2 percent at 4 years, 71.5 percent at 5 years. 1,978 establishments first reported paid employment in 2018; BusinessNES calculation from Census BDS.100%75%50%25%0%2014-2018 cohort range: 65.7 to 71.5 percentStart: 100 percent, the starting count1 year: 90.0 percent of the starting count2 years: 83.6 percent of the starting count3 years: 77.8 percent of the starting count4 years: 74.2 percent of the starting count5 years: 71.5 percent of the starting count90.083.677.874.271.5Start1 year2 years3 years4 years5 years1,978 establishments first reported paid employment in 2018; BusinessNES calculation from Census BDS.
Five years on, this industry group counted about 72 establishments aged five for every 100 that first reported paid employment in 2018. 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 65.7 to 71.5 percent. This benchmark covers Building material and supplies dealers, NAICS 4441, as a whole, and this category accounts for 7,364 of the 59,205 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.

MeasureValue
Annual payroll share of receipts, United States≈11%

Payroll share of receipts, Paint and Wallpaper Retailers, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

Approximately 11.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll, which is low because revenue here is the value of goods sold, not what the store keeps from selling them.

Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and the census does not publish cost of goods for this table, so nothing here shows what a store keeps.

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 establishment4.8
Employer establishments per firm5.03

Scale and ownership, Paint and Wallpaper Retailers, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

The average establishment employed about 4.8 people, and the industry counted 5.0 employer establishments per firm. That is far above one establishment per firm, which fits a category where manufacturers operate their own store networks.

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.

Questions Worth Asking BusinessNES analysis

Paint and Wallpaper Retailers: context the census does not publish.

Before you rely on this benchmark

  • Is the store independent or part of a manufacturer network? Company-owned store networks and independent dealers face different supply terms, pricing freedom and branding obligations, and both sit in this average.
  • How much of the volume is trade rather than retail? Painting contractors buy differently from homeowners: larger tickets, account terms and price expectations that a walk-in customer never sees.
  • What does tinting equipment and unsold color cost? Custom mixing means inventory that cannot be returned once tinted, and the equipment behind it is a standing commitment.
  • How exposed is the store to the building cycle? Trade demand follows construction and repaint cycles, so a store weighted toward contractors moves with a market it does not control.
  • How is color matching supported? Matching an existing finish is a service customers value, and remakes may fall to the store depending on policy and where responsibility lies.

Explore More on BusinessNES

Neighbouring benchmark pages built from the same verified data, plus BusinessNES guides on the same subject.

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 store rather than each company or brand.