Industry · NAICS 5614

Business support services

The United States has 29,171 employer establishments in business support services (0.9 per 10,000 residents), employing 673,396 people at an average annual pay of $47,783, plus 258,586 nonemployer businesses.

In the United States

Establishments
29,171
258,586 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
0.9
Paid employees
673,396
Average annual pay
$47,783

Places ranked by residents per establishment

Places ranked by residents per establishment: more residents for each business, fewer competitors per resident. A count, not a measure of demand: retirement areas, low incomes or tourism change what a business needs.

Places
State
Size
Business support services by residents per establishment
#Placevs US
1Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH368,327846,0410.20.25×1,409$44,272166
2Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA199,497539,8990.30.29×17$38,529141
3Rochester, MN229,143732,7350.30.35×26$55,308104
4Lebanon-Claremont, NH-VT224,616732,0880.30.36×26$22,769114
5Bowling Green, KY189,968631,6610.30.36×205$35,015—
6Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT280,776931,1970.30.37×57$37,070123
7Monroe, MI155,563531,1130.30.37×14$42,57187
8Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC370,1641230,8470.30.37×412$31,369197
9Hanford-Corcoran, CA153,197530,6390.30.38×44$39,04545
10Niles, MI152,384530,4770.30.38×7$70,28680
11Alexandria, LA148,419529,6840.30.39×39$27,87280
12Hilo-Kailua, HI207,476729,6390.30.39×73$22,685145
13Bakersfield-Delano, CA917,5993129,6000.30.39×194$29,371429
14Elkhart-Goshen, IN207,133729,5900.30.39×62$43,43599
15Merced, CA294,3191029,4320.30.39×72$16,75069
16Longview, TX294,1611029,4160.30.39×89$37,404219
17Ottawa, IL146,200529,2400.30.39×136$27,82456
18Dalton, GA145,315529,0630.30.40×16$27,87576
19Auburn-Opelika, AL202,368728,9100.30.40×583$29,346126
20Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA312,6561128,4230.40.41×234$40,321178
21Fayetteville, NC392,3451428,0250.40.41×360$42,489262
22Janesville-Beloit, WI164,619627,4370.40.42×509$39,05342
23Brownsville-Harlingen, TX428,9061626,8070.40.43×4,546$20,878471
24Battle Creek, MI133,331526,6660.40.43×10$36,30067
25Decatur, AL158,918626,4860.40.44×121$28,60377

1–25 of 358 places

Sources: County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024).

  • Residents per establishment is the place's population estimate for 2023 divided by its establishments; more residents per business means fewer competitors per resident. Places with fewer than the minimum establishments are left out because a handful of businesses makes the ratio jump around.
  • Metro areas are made of whole counties and their figures are the exact sums of those counties'. A metro area is listed under its principal state.
  • This compares counts of businesses with counts of residents. It does not measure demand, spending power, visitors, the size or quality of the businesses, or whether a market is open. Employment and payroll carry the Census Bureau's noise infusion.
  • County Business Patterns 2023 uses NAICS 2017 codes; the nonemployer figures use NAICS 2022. Industries are matched by name between editions.
  • Growth needs a second reference year of County Business Patterns in the same industry classification; only 2023 is loaded, so there is no growth column yet.

Federal contracts in this industry

Federal agencies obligated $1.5B on contracts under NAICS 5614 in fiscal year 2026, nationwide (3,385 awards, each counted once per county where it was performed).

Metro areas

  1. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$513.3M34%
    836 awards
  2. Charleston-North Charleston, SC$100.5M6.6%
    7 awards
  3. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD$92.5M6.1%
    106 awards
  4. Rochester, NY$76.7M5.1%
    15 awards
  5. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN$75.9M5.0%
    51 awards
  6. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX$69.3M4.6%
    29 awards
  7. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$68.1M4.5%
    27 awards
  8. Tucson, AZ$62.9M4.2%
    9 awards
  9. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH$48.7M3.2%
    45 awards
  10. Kansas City, MO-KS$41M2.7%
    9 awards

Counties

  1. Fairfax County, VA$346.2M23%
    227 awards
  2. District of Columbia, DC$123.8M8.2%
    441 awards
  3. Berkeley County, SC$100.5M6.6%
    3 awards
  4. Baltimore city, MD$75M5.0%
    23 awards
  5. Cook County, IL$72.7M4.8%
    38 awards
  6. Dallas County, TX$69.1M4.6%
    20 awards
  7. Alameda County, CA$67.6M4.5%
    15 awards
  8. Pima County, AZ$62.9M4.2%
    9 awards
  9. Monroe County, NY$60M4.0%
    9 awards
  10. Middlesex County, MA$41.2M2.7%
    18 awards

Cities and towns

  1. McLean CDP, VA$192.1M13%
    171 awards
  2. Washington city, DC$123.8M8.2%
    441 awards
  3. Ladson CDP, SC$82.9M5.5%
    2 awards
  4. Baltimore city, MD$75M5.0%
    23 awards
  5. Lancaster city, TX$59.1M3.9%
    2 awards
  6. Tucson city, AZ$49.8M3.3%
    9 awards
  7. Tysons CDP, VA$46.9M3.1%
    175 awards
  8. Great Falls CDP, VA$26.2M1.7%
    170 awards
  9. Chantilly CDP, VA$23.5M1.6%
    7 awards
  10. San Antonio city, TX$19M1.3%
    9 awards

Where the work was performed, as agencies report it (often the contractor's office). Metro areas are the exact sums of their counties. Cities are estimated: each action's county money split by the share of its ZIP code's land inside the city, so a city's figure is part of its county's.

USAspending.gov, prime award contract transactions (FPDS)