The U.S. Census Bureau has published the main release of data from the 2023 Annual Integrated Economic Survey (AIES), marking the first time a single, comprehensive annual overview of U.S. employer businesses is available.
The AIES delivers detailed economic statistics, such as business revenue, expenses, payroll, and employment figures. While similar data for many sectors was previously only accessible at the national level, this new release includes information at national, regional, and divisional levels. For certain sectors, state-level estimates are also provided.
Lisa Donaldson, assistant director for Economic Programs at the Census Bureau, stated: “This release of data represents a significant step forward in the Census Bureau’s efforts to adapt to our ever-changing economy and transform our business statistics. By combining breadth of coverage with new geographic detail, the AIES provides insights that will shape decisions across the public and private sectors.”
According to highlights from this main release:
– Automobile dealers generated approximately $278.2 billion in revenue and employed about 281,789 workers.
– Drugs and druggists’ sundries merchant wholesalers earned an estimated $298.6 billion in sales.
– Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing companies employed around 78,565 workers with an annual payroll of $8.8 billion.
– Hospitals reported $300.6 billion in revenue and 1,337,057 employees.
– Grocery stores brought in roughly $337.5 billion in revenue with an annual payroll of $32.1 billion.
– Electric power generation, transmission and distribution businesses employed approximately 202,720 workers with an annual payroll of $24.4 billion.
– Telecommunications firms recorded $155.9 billion in revenue with a payroll totaling $19.6 billion annually.
– Data processing, hosting and related services had 258,344 employees with a total annual payroll of $30.4 billion.
The survey covers domestic private sector nonfarm employer businesses that operated for any part of 2023 within one of the fifty states or Washington D.C., paid employees during that year, and were classified under nineteen specific sectors as defined by the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Approximately 385,000 businesses were sampled based on their industry classification and geographic location.
Estimates provided are not adjusted for price changes; they may be subject to sampling variability or other sources of error as described by Census Bureau methodology.
The final estimates released today replace preliminary data published in July 2025.
