Industry · NAICS 54

Professional, scientific, and technical services

The United States has 989,182 employer establishments in professional, scientific, and technical services (29.4 per 10,000 residents), employing 10,401,442 people at an average annual pay of $107,141, plus 4,233,838 nonemployer businesses.

In the United States

Establishments
989,182
4,233,838 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
29.4
Paid employees
10,401,442
Average annual pay
$107,141

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
Professional, scientific, and technical services by residents per establishment
#Placevs US
1Merced, CA294,3191771,66360.20×943$53,2931,090
2Hanford-Corcoran, CA153,1971071,43270.24×1,330$84,192502
3Clarksville, TN-KY340,0832991,1378.80.30×2,533$62,2471,869
4Morristown, TN124,4311101,1318.80.30×523$50,937833
5Salem, OH100,060891,1248.90.30×447$53,134562
6Anderson Creek, NC141,7721281,10890.31×649$55,470999
7Lumberton, NC118,0051071,1039.10.31×640$45,644482
8El Centro, CA180,6831671,0829.20.31×868$54,293930
9Visalia, CA480,8164601,0459.60.33×2,446$63,2302,304
10Killeen-Temple, TX502,4974831,0409.60.33×4,276$63,4662,853
11Cleveland, TN130,2601281,0189.80.33×681$50,6951,022
12Massena-Ogdensburg, NY106,6071051,0159.80.34×647$69,481547
13Monroe, MI155,5631551,004100.34×1,367$81,718975
14Jacksonville, NC210,95521697710.20.35×1,695$55,9491,152
15Danville, VA101,71210596910.30.35×608$56,117470
16Goldsboro, NC119,73112496610.40.35×688$60,028551
17Sunbury, PA108,10711494810.50.36×776$56,232562
18Fond du Lac, WI104,34911194010.60.36×1,476$82,243561
19Yuba City, CA184,40220092210.80.37×1,218$77,110941
20Pottsville, PA143,89215791710.90.37×867$68,085809
21Corbin, KY149,59316690111.10.38×1,546$86,759680
22Springfield, OH135,34215189611.20.38×862$52,464736
23Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ223,58625189111.20.38×1,155$58,5801,562
24Jackson, TN182,44220688611.30.38×1,293$59,3671,219
25Vineland, NJ154,49717588311.30.39×1,681$45,521710

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 $194.3B on contracts under NAICS 54 in fiscal year 2026, nationwide (140,182 awards, each counted once per county where it was performed).

Metro areas

  1. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$71.1B37%
    53,761 awards
  2. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD$8.6B4.4%
    4,010 awards
  3. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA$7.4B3.8%
    2,741 awards
  4. Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT$7.2B3.7%
    174 awards
  5. Huntsville, AL$6.4B3.3%
    3,462 awards
  6. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$6.3B3.3%
    2,752 awards
  7. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH$5B2.6%
    2,903 awards
  8. Pittsburgh, PA$4.4B2.3%
    582 awards
  9. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ$3.5B1.8%
    2,786 awards
  10. Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO$3.1B1.6%
    2,210 awards

Counties

  1. Fairfax County, VA$26B13%
    15,423 awards
  2. District of Columbia, DC$20.7B11%
    19,688 awards
  3. Arlington County, VA$7.9B4.1%
    2,947 awards
  4. Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region, CT$7.2B3.7%
    174 awards
  5. Los Angeles County, CA$6.4B3.3%
    2,247 awards
  6. Madison County, AL$6.4B3.3%
    3,434 awards
  7. Montgomery County, MD$5.9B3.0%
    7,684 awards
  8. Alameda County, CA$5.5B2.8%
    1,774 awards
  9. Allegheny County, PA$4.4B2.3%
    501 awards
  10. Middlesex County, MA$4.2B2.2%
    1,966 awards

Cities and towns

  1. Washington city, DC$20.7B11%
    19,688 awards
  2. Arlington CDP, VA$7.9B4.1%
    2,947 awards
  3. Reston CDP, VA$5.1B2.6%
    5,715 awards
  4. McLean CDP, VA$4.3B2.2%
    2,784 awards
  5. West Mifflin borough, PA$4.1B2.1%
    70 awards
  6. Huntsville city, AL$3.7B1.9%
    607 awards
  7. El Segundo city, CA$2.4B1.3%
    364 awards
  8. Alexandria city, VA$2.3B1.2%
    1,235 awards
  9. El Paso city, TX$1.9B1.0%
    209 awards
  10. Chantilly CDP, VA$1.8B0.9%
    1,581 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)