Industry · NAICS 311

Food manufacturing

The United States has 31,130 employer establishments in food manufacturing (0.9 per 10,000 residents), employing 1,707,316 people at an average annual pay of $55,880, plus 77,695 nonemployer businesses.

In the United States

Establishments
31,130
77,695 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
0.9
Paid employees
1,707,316
Average annual pay
$55,880

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
Food manufacturing by residents per establishment
#Placevs US
1Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL846,125994,0140.10.12×357$42,375194
2Tallahassee, FL394,551665,7590.20.16×78$20,346—
3Huntsville, AL528,2261148,0210.20.23×150$15,04096
4Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH368,327846,0410.20.23×377$45,947—
5Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL532,4601244,3720.20.24×150$16,90077
6Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL306,296743,7570.20.25×20$16,50055
7Roanoke, VA314,970839,3710.30.27×202$33,31743
8Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA312,656839,0820.30.28×318$54,71731
9Jacksonville, NC210,955635,1590.30.31×185$45,06520
10Charleston, WV202,801633,8000.30.32×215$54,58622
11Warner Robins, GA200,730633,4550.30.32×3,951$44,07963
12Clarksville, TN-KY340,0831130,9170.30.35×485$65,37135
13Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC398,6991330,6690.30.35×96$19,55263
14Fayetteville, NC392,3451330,1800.30.36×706$52,21839
15Redding, CA180,695630,1160.30.36×83$46,96436
16Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC629,9882129,9990.30.36×2,515$39,073149
17Lexington Park, MD209,995729,9990.30.36×24$26,62547
18Alexandria, LA148,419529,6840.30.36×81$74,18536
19Ocala, FL412,3001429,4500.30.37×565$45,57570
20Anderson Creek, NC141,772528,3540.40.38×71$63,73226
21Terre Haute, IN168,539628,0900.40.39×431$53,77020
22Corpus Christi, TX448,6261628,0390.40.39×1,176$42,645118
23Tucson, AZ1,065,2393828,0330.40.39×775$47,157176
24Killeen-Temple, TX502,4971827,9170.40.39×233$64,48995
25Monroe, LA222,777827,8470.40.39×1,776$37,28459

1–25 of 378 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 $6.3B on contracts under NAICS 311 in fiscal year 2026, nationwide (786,236 awards, each counted once per county where it was performed).

Metro areas

  1. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN$369.2M5.8%
    191 awards
  2. Stockton-Lodi, CA$324.2M5.1%
    8,825 awards
  3. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA$242.6M3.8%
    43,096 awards
  4. Evansville, IN$197.2M3.1%
    207 awards
  5. Lancaster, PA$180.8M2.8%
    19 awards
  6. Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN$164.3M2.6%
    634 awards
  7. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$139.4M2.2%
    29,903 awards
  8. Modesto, CA$137M2.2%
    57 awards
  9. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ$123.1M1.9%
    44,000 awards
  10. Fresno, CA$115M1.8%
    81 awards

Counties

  1. Cook County, IL$347.8M5.5%
    170 awards
  2. San Joaquin County, CA$324.2M5.1%
    8,825 awards
  3. Los Angeles County, CA$231M3.6%
    42,838 awards
  4. Vanderburgh County, IN$197.2M3.1%
    207 awards
  5. Lancaster County, PA$180.8M2.8%
    19 awards
  6. Marion County, SC$166.6M2.6%
    525 awards
  7. Hamilton County, OH$145.1M2.3%
    610 awards
  8. Stanislaus County, CA$137M2.2%
    57 awards
  9. Kings County, CA$107.4M1.7%
    11 awards
  10. Chaves County, NM$104.1M1.6%
    30 awards

Cities and towns

  1. Chicago city, IL$225M3.5%
    77 awards
  2. Evansville city, IN$107.9M1.7%
    207 awards
  3. La Mirada city, CA$106.4M1.7%
    9,945 awards
  4. San Antonio city, TX$87.3M1.4%
    6,848 awards
  5. Des Plaines city, IL$81.6M1.3%
    29 awards
  6. Vineland city, NJ$58.2M0.9%
    64,082 awards
  7. Stillmore city, GA$57.3M0.9%
    29 awards
  8. Blue Ash city, OH$52.4M0.8%
    406 awards
  9. Los Angeles city, CA$51.9M0.8%
    32,648 awards
  10. Chino city, CA$47.3M0.7%
    8 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)