Average Manufacturing Plant Size by Industry

Full ranking: average plant size by manufacturing industry

“Plant” is common business language, but the official unit here is an establishment. The BLS defines QCEW establishments as economic units at a single physical location. One company may operate several establishments. The calculated average therefore describes a typical location in an industry, not a typical parent company.

Calculations use annual average employment, annual average establishments, and total annual wages from the linked BLS file. Rounded values may not reproduce exactly.

What the ranking says about factory scale

Transportation equipment ranks first at 94.6 workers per establishment. Paper manufacturing follows at 62.4, primary metals at 61.2, and plastics and rubber at 50.1. These industries tend to need larger production teams, specialized equipment, and more support functions at each location.

Transportation equipment sits at the top because vehicle, aircraft, ship, rail, trailer, and component production often needs sizable teams. Its 1,770,605 workers across 18,712 establishments produce the 94.6-worker average. Food manufacturing has nearly the same workforce, 1,766,665 workers, but spreads it across 42,010 establishments. Its average is 42.1 workers per location.

At the other end, printing averages 12.8 workers, apparel averages 13.0, and miscellaneous manufacturing averages 16.4. Those industries contain many small specialty shops. An average does not mean every location is small. It means the account universe contains far more small locations than the heavy industrial categories do.

Annual payroll per manufacturing establishment

Headcount tells only half the story. Payroll per establishment combines location size with workforce pay. Computer and electronic product manufacturing generates about $6,022,256 in annual payroll per establishment. Transportation equipment generates about $8,823,768. Both figures point to large, technically demanding accounts, although payroll is not the same as revenue or purchasing budget.

Petroleum and coal products stand out on pay rather than headcount. The subsector’s total annual wages divided by employment equal about $141,329 per worker. Chemical manufacturing is about $118,180. Higher payroll can signal specialized operators, engineers, safety requirements, continuous processes, and costly downtime.

Do not treat payroll as a direct estimate of what a plant will spend with your company. It is a scale indicator. A 15-person specialty fabricator may buy an expensive machine in one year, while a much larger food plant may buy only low-cost consumables from a particular vendor. The metric works best for segmenting a market before account-level research.

How to use plant-size data in industrial sales

Build territories around account density and account weight

Establishment count shows density. Workers and payroll per establishment show weight. Fabricated metal products provide 60,906 possible locations, the largest account universe in this dataset, but average only 23.6 workers per establishment. Transportation equipment provides fewer than one-third as many locations, but the average location is roughly four times larger by headcount.

Match the offer to the likely buying committee

A small shop may have an owner, plant manager, and buyer rolled into one person. A 95-worker establishment is more likely to separate operations, maintenance, engineering, quality, safety, finance, and purchasing. That changes keyword research, landing-page proof, email targeting, and the number of stakeholders required to close a sale.

Use the numbers as a filter, not a verdict

Industry averages cannot reveal an individual location’s revenue, equipment, current projects, ownership, or willingness to change vendors. Use the ranking to decide which industries deserve research. Then verify each account through company sites, permits, job postings, trade publications, distributor intelligence, and direct conversations.

Methodology and limitations

We filtered the 2024 BLS QCEW annual US file to private ownership and the 21 three-digit manufacturing subsectors under NAICS 31-33. Workers per establishment equals annual average employment divided by annual average establishments. Payroll per establishment equals total annual wages divided by annual average establishments. Payroll per worker equals total annual wages divided by annual average employment.

QCEW covers more than 95 percent of US jobs through unemployment insurance records, according to the BLS program overview. It is one of the strongest public sources for establishment employment and wages. Still, these are annual averages. Seasonal hiring, plant openings, closures, acquisitions, temporary workers on another employer’s payroll, and multi-establishment companies can affect interpretation.

The Census Annual Survey of Manufactures is a better companion source when you need shipments, capital expenditures, materials, inventories, or energy. The Census NAICS site should be used when you need exact industry definitions. This page stays focused on employment, establishments, and payroll.

Frequently asked questions

Which manufacturing industry has the largest average establishment?

Transportation equipment manufacturing ranks first at 94.6 workers per establishment in this 2024 private-sector QCEW analysis.

How large is the average US manufacturing establishment?

Across the 21 subsectors, the calculated average is 32.1 workers per establishment. Industry mix creates a wide spread around that figure.

Is an establishment the same as a company?

No. The BLS QCEW program generally treats an establishment as a single physical location. One company can operate multiple establishments.

Cite this resource

Sources

1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW 2024 annual national CSV, source for all establishment, employment, and wage figures.
2. BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages overview, coverage and establishment methodology.
3. US Census Bureau, North American Industry Classification System, industry definitions.
4. US Census Bureau, Annual Survey of Manufactures, companion manufacturing survey.