Top 10 states by retail industry size

California leads with 107,053. The 10 US states with the largest retail sector by number of establishments, from US Census County Business Patterns 2022.

#	Name	Establishments	Detail
1	California	107,053	1,687,970 employees · $71.9B payroll
2	Texas	83,788	1,374,267 employees · $50.2B payroll
3	Florida	75,743	1,135,592 employees · $41.6B payroll
4	New York	72,674	870,996 employees · $34.5B payroll
5	Pennsylvania	40,488	660,495 employees · $22.3B payroll
6	Illinois	35,947	570,591 employees · $20.5B payroll
7	Georgia	35,823	504,073 employees · $17.4B payroll
8	North Carolina	35,465	522,306 employees · $17.0B payroll
9	Ohio	34,367	555,181 employees · $19.3B payroll
10	Michigan	32,936	463,160 employees · $16.5B payroll

Methodology

Total retail establishments (NAICS 44-45) per state, US Census County Business Patterns 2022.

As of 2026-05-28. ACS 2023 5-year + CBP 2022.

Related rankings

Top 10 states by construction industry size — #1 California (85,171)
Top 10 states by healthcare industry size — #1 California (127,019)
Top 10 states by manufacturing industry size — #1 California (35,936)
Top 10 states by professional services industry size — #1 California (142,540)
Top 10 counties with the most construction businesses — #1 Los Angeles County (17,404)
Top 10 counties with the most healthcare establishments — #1 Los Angeles County (37,635)
Top 10 highest-paying construction states — #1 Alaska ($92,599)
Top 10 highest-paying healthcare states — #1 California ($72,470)

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