Industry · NAICS 51

Information

The United States has 160,704 employer establishments in information (4.8 per 10,000 residents), employing 3,809,059 people at an average annual pay of $149,198, plus 425,436 nonemployer businesses.

In the United States

Establishments
160,704
425,436 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
4.8
Paid employees
3,809,059
Average annual pay
$149,198

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
Information by residents per establishment
#Placevs US
1Anderson Creek, NC141,772187,8761.30.27×207$111,638112
2Yuba City, CA184,402267,0921.40.30×388$54,430119
3Hanford-Corcoran, CA153,197226,9641.40.30×260$56,34254
4Lumberton, NC118,005176,9411.40.30×177$49,87030
5Wooster, OH116,551186,4751.50.32×134$45,76980
6Stockton-Lodi, CA806,0551355,9711.70.35×1,767$72,301480
7McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX901,0961545,8511.70.36×4,289$46,570804
8Kenosha, WI167,852295,7881.70.36×278$38,266121
9Vineland, NJ154,497275,7221.70.37×395$74,64380
10Jacksonville, NC210,955375,7011.80.37×425$51,871128
11Merced, CA294,319525,6601.80.37×353$52,904113
12Warner Robins, GA200,730385,2821.90.40×405$54,284162
13Wildwood-The Villages, FL151,889295,2381.90.40×128$56,859108
14Sumter, SC104,396205,2201.90.40×343$61,90159
15Vallejo, CA451,377875,1881.90.40×1,213$67,949383
16Visalia, CA480,816935,1701.90.41×1,004$57,703215
17Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI197,390395,06120.41×448$54,156117
18El Centro, CA180,683365,01920.42×307$52,45970
19Monroe, MI155,563315,01820.42×246$52,81799
20Brownsville-Harlingen, TX428,906884,8742.10.43×1,788$50,854262
21Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA199,497414,8662.10.43×431$52,26587
22Dalton, GA145,315304,8442.10.43×349$41,62591
23Fayetteville, NC392,345814,8442.10.43×1,435$46,122276
24Goldsboro, NC119,731254,7892.10.44×196$53,42362
25Bakersfield-Delano, CA917,5991934,7542.10.44×2,517$51,402545

1–25 of 398 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 $17.8B on contracts under NAICS 51 in fiscal year 2026, nationwide (34,227 awards, each counted once per county where it was performed).

Metro areas

  1. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$8.9B50%
    9,748 awards
  2. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX$1.5B8.4%
    285 awards
  3. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD$615.2M3.5%
    4,922 awards
  4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA$453.9M2.5%
    334 awards
  5. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH$411.4M2.3%
    510 awards
  6. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA$354.9M2.0%
    298 awards
  7. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL$336.8M1.9%
    112 awards
  8. Montgomery, AL$327.5M1.8%
    83 awards
  9. Colorado Springs, CO$307.4M1.7%
    155 awards
  10. Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO$302.5M1.7%
    437 awards

Counties

  1. District of Columbia, DC$3.9B22%
    3,726 awards
  2. Fairfax County, VA$3.2B18%
    2,971 awards
  3. Williamson County, TX$1B5.9%
    205 awards
  4. Montgomery County, MD$553.8M3.1%
    682 awards
  5. Arlington County, VA$553.8M3.1%
    363 awards
  6. Travis County, TX$446.9M2.5%
    76 awards
  7. Loudoun County, VA$439.9M2.5%
    843 awards
  8. Los Angeles County, CA$413.3M2.3%
    272 awards
  9. Middlesex County, MA$373.7M2.1%
    342 awards
  10. King County, WA$352.6M2.0%
    217 awards

Cities and towns

  1. Washington city, DC$3.9B22%
    3,726 awards
  2. Reston CDP, VA$1.1B5.9%
    1,688 awards
  3. Arlington CDP, VA$553.8M3.1%
    363 awards
  4. Austin city, TX$345.7M1.9%
    61 awards
  5. Montgomery city, AL$324.4M1.8%
    80 awards
  6. Great Falls CDP, VA$241.3M1.4%
    208 awards
  7. Hawthorne city, CA$236.2M1.3%
    7 awards
  8. Denver city, CO$206.6M1.2%
    82 awards
  9. Colorado Springs city, CO$202.4M1.1%
    96 awards
  10. Ashburn CDP, VA$198.7M1.1%
    684 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)