DEC. 5, 2024 – The U.S. Census Bureau today released new national, state and local economic data from the 2022 Economic Census, a primary source of information about the U.S. economy. The Geographic Area Statistics provide detailed industry statistics by geographic area, including states, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, counties, and places for employer businesses (those with paid employees) in the United States. Data include the number of firms, establishments, employees, sales, and annual and first quarter payroll. 

For the first time, the Geographic Area Statistics are being made available in a single release – every sector and geography published at the same time – providing data users with a complete view of economic activity across the country.

“The Geographic Area Statistics are a key data series produced from the economic census. These statistics provide the standard on industry and economic activity across states, counties and local areas that are used for economic development and regional planning, business location and investment decisions, and informed policy development. It also serves as the foundation for many other statistical products such as the Gross Domestic Product and the Producer Price Index.” said Nick Orsini, associate director for Economic Programs at the Census Bureau. “Connecting industry information to geographic locations across the United States helps us better understand the economic changes taking place within the country.”

This is the first major data release to feature detailed industry statistics based on the 2022 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for most sectors, including:

• Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction (NAICS 21)
• Utilities (NAICS 22)
• Construction (NAICS 23)
• Manufacturing (NAICS 31 – 33)
• Wholesale Trade (NAICS 42)
• Retail Trade (NAICS 44 – 45)
• Finance and Insurance (NAICS 52)
• Health Care and Social Assistance (NAICS 62)
• Arts, Entertainment and Recreation (NAICS 71)
• Accommodation and Food Services (NAICS 72)

Additional sectors, and an agriculture industry subsector (NAICS 115) – measured for the first time in 45 years – are also available as part of this release.

Below are selected estimates from today’s release.

• According to the 2022 Economic Census Geographic Area Statistics, 8.0 million employer establishments generated $50.5 trillion in sales, employing 136.6 million people with $8.5 trillion in annual payroll in the United States.
• California and Texas were the top states for the number of establishments, employees, sales, and annual and first quarter payroll. Florida, New York and Illinois rounded out the top five states across each of these statistical variables from the 2022 Economic Census.
• The Wholesale Trade sector had the highest value of sales ($11.9 trillion) in the nation, with 29% of sales coming from California and Texas.
• Manufacturing was the second largest sector in the nation in terms of value of shipments at $7.0 trillion. In addition to California and Texas, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois each had over $300 billion in value of shipments from the Manufacturing sector.
• Michigan had 36,176 employees in Motor Vehicle Manufacturing (NAICS 3361), the most of any state, followed by California (24,163) and Kentucky (23,327).
• Among metropolitan areas, the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ had the highest number of restaurants (NAICS 7225) with 44,737 establishments in the United States. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (28,812), Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN (17,608), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (14,610), and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX (12,526) rounded out the top five.

Visit data.census.gov for more geographic area statistics from the 2022 Economic Census.

Data included in this release will supersede the First Look Statistics released in January 2024.

For more information on the economic census, visit coverage for industries included,  2022 Economic Census Methodology, 2022 Geographies and Economic Census by Year.

###