Revenue per Employee Benchmark by Industry and Company Size
The same number that tells you how efficient you are also tells you how much of your team's time goes to work that does not grow revenue.
A revenue per employee benchmark answers a question every owner eventually asks: are we producing as much revenue per person as similar companies? The tables below are built from the U.S. Census Bureau's Statistics of U.S. Businesses for 2022, the most recent year with revenue data, broken down by industry and by company size. Use the tool to compare your own numbers.
Compare your business
Benchmarks: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022 (released April 10, 2025). A comparison, not a judgment: business models within an industry differ.
Revenue per employee by sector and company size
Average receipts per paid employee, U.S., 2022. Company size is the total number of employees across the whole company.
| Sector | 10-19 employees | 20-49 employees | 50-99 employees | 100-499 employees | All firms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All industries | $229,000 | $246,000 | $290,000 | $340,000 | $375,000 |
| Construction | $314,000 | $362,000 | $398,000 | $443,000 | $396,000 |
| Manufacturing | $231,000 | $273,000 | $331,000 | $408,000 | $580,000 |
| Wholesale trade | $1,037,000 | $1,097,000 | $1,192,000 | $1,389,000 | $1,894,000 |
| Retail trade | $329,000 | $422,000 | $586,000 | $624,000 | $430,000 |
| Transportation and warehousing | $261,000 | $231,000 | $185,000 | $235,000 | $222,000 |
| Information | $242,000 | $269,000 | $311,000 | $347,000 | $589,000 |
| Finance and insurance | $316,000 | $393,000 | $439,000 | $574,000 | $842,000 |
| Real estate and rental | $308,000 | $309,000 | $330,000 | $394,000* | $399,000 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | $217,000 | $233,000 | $255,000 | $279,000 | $268,000 |
| Administrative and support services | $150,000 | $139,000 | $128,000 | $115,000 | $102,000 |
| Educational services | $76,000 | $81,000 | $99,000 | $122,000 | $145,000 |
| Health care and social assistance | $123,000 | $115,000 | $111,000 | $118,000 | $157,000 |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | $107,000 | $98,000 | $98,000 | $143,000 | $150,000 |
| Accommodation and food services | $78,000 | $70,000 | $74,000 | $85,000 | $87,000 |
| Other services | $142,000 | $145,000 | $187,000 | $268,000* | $170,000 |
Revenue per employee by type of business
| Type of business | Under 20 employees | 20-99 employees | 100-499 employees | All firms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty salons | $73,000 | $62,000 | $63,000 | $68,000 |
| CPA offices | $159,000 | $181,000 | $221,000 | $264,000 |
| Dental offices | $151,000 | $154,000 | $159,000 | $155,000 |
| Employment placement agencies | $218,000 | $128,000 | $85,000 | $96,000 |
| Engineering services | $243,000 | $248,000 | $259,000 | $260,000 |
| Freight transportation arrangement | $575,000 | $450,000 | $435,000 | $400,000 |
| General automotive repair | $184,000 | $210,000 | $224,000 | $186,000 |
| Insurance agencies and brokerages | $169,000 | $238,000 | $320,000 | $256,000 |
| Law offices | $239,000 | $268,000 | $320,000 | $330,000 |
| Long-distance trucking (truckload) | $380,000 | $300,000 | $289,000 | $292,000 |
| Marketing consulting services | $304,000 | $238,000 | $324,000 | $282,000 |
| Other health practitioner offices | $153,000* | $113,000 | $132,000* | $152,000 |
| Other personal care services | $93,000 | $61,000 | $82,000 | $82,000 |
| Physician offices | $233,000 | $222,000 | $247,000 | $244,000 |
| Plumbing, heating and AC contractors | $217,000 | $260,000 | $292,000 | $260,000 |
| Residential property managers | $199,000 | $128,000 | $138,000 | $154,000 |
| Residential remodelers | $292,000 | $336,000 | $391,000 | $308,000 |
| Temporary staffing services | $238,000* | $100,000 | $74,000 | $83,000 |
| Wholesale, durable goods | $796,000 | $815,000 | $1,073,000 | $1,366,000 |
| Wholesale, nondurable goods | $1,172,000 | $1,427,000 | $1,791,000 | $2,587,000 |
* The Census Bureau applied medium or high statistical noise to this cell to protect confidentiality. Treat it as less precise.
How to calculate revenue per employee
Divide your annual revenue by the number of people on payroll. To match the Census method, count full- and part-time employees on payroll in a typical pay period (Census uses the pay period including March 12), and use revenue net of sales taxes collected from customers.
How to read the benchmark
- Business models differ. A wholesale distributor moves a lot of product with few people, so its revenue per employee is high. A dental office or a staffing firm sells people's time, so it is lower. Compare within your industry, not across.
- Small companies can look better than they are. The Census counts paid employment, so an owner who does not take a formal payroll salary is not counted as an employee, which raises revenue per employee and lowers the payroll share.
- Contractors and outsourcing change the picture. If much of your work is done by contractors, your revenue per employee will look higher than a company that does the same work in-house.
- It is an average. It combines every company in the group, so a few large or unusually efficient companies can pull it up.
What moves revenue per employee
Revenue per employee rises when the same team handles more business. That usually comes from a few places:
- Removing repetitive work that takes time away from customers and selling. See back office automation.
- Answering and following up faster, so more of the demand you already generate turns into revenue. See speed to lead.
- Pricing and mix, selling more of what earns the most per hour of your team's time.
- Hiring for strategic roles, with systems around those people so they spend their time where it counts. See hiring vs outsourcing.
For the cost side of the same picture, see labor cost as a percentage of revenue.
Source and method
U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB), 2022, tables "us_state_naics_detailedsizes_2022" and "us_state_6digitnaics_2022", United States totals, released April 10, 2025. Revenue per employee = receipts ÷ paid employment, rounded to the nearest $1,000. SUSB covers employer businesses; companies with no employees are excluded. Receipts are operating revenue net of taxes collected from customers. Downloaded and calculated by Rulehedge Growth on October 31, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good revenue per employee?
It depends on the industry and size. In 2022 the U.S. average across all industries was about $375,000 per employee, but it ranged from under $100,000 in some service industries to over $1 million in wholesale trade. Compare against your own industry and size band.
How do you calculate revenue per employee?
Divide annual revenue by the number of employees on payroll. Use a consistent count, such as employees in a typical pay period, and revenue net of sales taxes.
Why is revenue per employee lower for small companies?
In many industries smaller companies have less scale and more manual work per sale. In some industries the opposite shows up when owners of small firms are not on payroll.
How can a company increase revenue per employee?
By removing repetitive work, answering and following up faster, improving pricing and mix, and placing well-trained people in strategic roles with systems handling routine tasks.
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