Vending Machine Operator Revenue Benchmark

Average Vending Machine Business Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census

The 2022 Economic Census counts every vending machine operator with paid employees and publishes their combined annual receipts across the machines they own and service. Dividing that total by the number of establishments gives the average annual revenue per employer establishment shown below.

≈$2,498,000 /year

Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment

How this is calculated: about $8.3 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 3,317 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $2,498,000 per employer establishment.

Scope: Vending Machine Operators, NAICS 445132. The category covers businesses that retail food, drinks and other merchandise through vending machines they own and service. Coin-operated laundry and amusement machines are counted in separate categories. Classified separately in group 4451: 445110 Supermarkets and Other Grocery Retailers (except Convenience Retailers); 445131 Convenience Retailers. 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 Varies by cohort

Grocery and Convenience Retailers, NAICS 4451, 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 48.2 to 61.1 percent. This benchmark covers Grocery and Convenience Retailers, NAICS 4451, as a whole, and this category accounts for 3,317 of the 101,624 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, Vending Machine Operators, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

Approximately 19.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll, a small share because the products sold through the machines are the main purchase and route drivers who restock and service them are the main labor cost.

Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and it excludes the merchandise, the commissions paid to host locations and the vehicles that keep a route running.

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, Vending Machine Operators, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

The average establishment employed about 11.7 people, and the industry counted 1.2 employer establishments per firm. A route operation needs drivers, a warehouse and a small office, which is why the average establishment employs more people than a single-machine owner would expect, while the establishments per firm figure shows that some operators run several branches across a region.

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

Vending Machine Operator: what a route business looks like behind the machines.

Before you rely on this benchmark

• How many machines stand behind the average figure? The census counts establishments, not machines, so the revenue on this page belongs to a whole operation with its routes, drivers and warehouse. A person starting with a handful of machines should not read the average as a per-machine or per-location figure.
• What does the host location take? Commissions to the site that hosts the machine are a normal part of the trade and are paid out of receipts. Terms vary widely by location type and by the volume the site delivers, and the census does not separate that cost from anything else.
• How are cashless payments changing the economics? Card and mobile readers can change purchasing behavior and reduce cash handling, while adding hardware, connectivity and processing fees to every machine. The mix of cash and cashless sales in a fleet shapes both revenue and cost in ways an annual total cannot show.
• Where do route costs hide? Fuel, vehicles and driver time dominate the operating side of the business, and dense routes in a city cost less to service than scattered machines across a rural area. The same receipts can sit on top of very different mileage.
• Which products drive the sales? Beverages, snacks and fresh food each carry different spoilage, margin and restocking rhythms, and healthier options required by some institutional sites sell differently from traditional lines. The category mix decides what a machine yields, not just its location.
• Who owns the machines? Some operators buy machines outright, others finance or lease them, and refurbished equipment sits beside new smart machines in the same fleet. The capital tied up per machine is a major planning number that receipts and payroll do not reveal.