Retail Trade

Industry Sector

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Workforce Population
17.1M
2024
Average Employee Age
39
2024
Estimated Job Growth
−1.17%
10-Year Projection
Average Salary
$46,691
2024
Average Male Salary
$54,745
2024
Average Female Salary
$37,905
2024

About

The top three occupations in the Retail Trade Industry Sector are retail salespersons, firstline supervisors of retail sales workers, and cashiers. On average, full-time employees in the Retail Trade Industry Sector work 42.6 hours per week and have an average annual salary of $60,735. Part-time employees in the same industry work 21.8 hours and earn an average annual salary of $16,853.

The locations with the highest concentration of employees in the Retail Trade Industry Sector are Benton County (Central)--Bentonville & Rogers Cities PUMA, AR, Benton County (Outer) PUMA, AR, and Seattle City (Lake Union-Downtown) PUMA, WA.

The workforce of Retail Trade Industry Sector in 2024 was 17,069,353 people, with 47.8% woman, and 52.2% men.

In 2024, 61.6% of the workforce in the Retail Trade Industry Sector was White (10,523,160 people), of which 47.1% were women and 52.9% men.

Photo by paul bica

Employment & Salaries

A snapshot of workforce, wages, and opportunities in the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

The workforce in Retail Trade Industry Sector was 17,069,353 people and is concentrated in California (1,802,108 workers). The average annual salary was $46,691, being $23,187 less than the national average salary, which was $69,878.

Monthly Employment

Showing data for the Trade, Transportation, and Utilities industry sector.
Start Year
Y-Axis
0.946%
Year-over-year growth
Employment change between February 2022 and February 2023

As of February 2023, there are 28.9M people employed in the Trade, Transportation, and Utilities industry. This represents a 0.946% increase in employment when compared to February 2022.

This chart shows monthly employment numbers for Trade, Transportation, and Utilities over time (non-seasonally adjusted).

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Employment by Location

The states that concentrated the largest workforce in 2024 were California (1.8M), Texas (1.55M), and Florida (1.21M).

This map shows the states in the United States shaded by workforce for Retail Trade Industry Sector.

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Yearly Wage Ranking

In 2024, Retail Trade Industry Sector had an average annual wage of $46,691, $23,187 less than the average national salary of $69,878.

The graph shows the position of Retail Trade Industry Sector in the ranking of industries by average annual wage.

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Wage Distribution

0.503
WAGE GINI

Retail Trade has a wage GINI of 0.503, which is more than than the national average of 0.474. In other words, wages are distributed less evenly in Retail Trade (shown in red) in comparison to the national average for those wage buckets (shown in gray).

The graphic shows the distribution of average salaries by buckets for Retail Trade Industry Sector workers compared to the entire workforce in the country.

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Occupations

A review of jobs and wages in the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

Retail salespersons are the most common position with 2,793,781 workers, but the Retail Trade Industry Sector employs a relatively high number of Firstline supervisors of retail sales workers and Cashiers.

The highest average salary in Retail Trade goes to Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers.

Occupations Distribution

The graph shows the distribution of employees in the Retail Trade Industry Sector according to occupations. In 2024, the occupations that concentrated the largest number of employees in this industry were retail salespersons (2,793,781 people), firstline supervisors of retail sales workers (2,560,121 people), and cashiers (2,062,494 people)

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Wage by Sex in Common Jobs

$54,745
AVERAGE MALE SALARY
±$580
$37,905
AVERAGE FEMALE SALARY
±$407

On average, Male workers in the Retail Trade Industry Sector make 1.44 times more than their Female counterparts. This chart shows the sex-based wage disparity in the 5 most common occupations in the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

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Business

Estimates of the sources of the costs and the purchasers of the products in the Retail Trade Industry Sector. Based on estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, this section indicates the amount of money spent by a specific industry in other industries.

The industrial flow illustrates the intermediate inputs and the use of outputs of the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

The Retail Trade Industry Sector gets the most input, by its share of the cost of all intermediate inputs, from the Professional and business services Industry.

California and Texas stand out as the states with the largest number of establishments in the Retail Trade Industry Sector.

Industrial Flow

Professional and business services has the highest single input, by dollars, to the Retail Trade Industry Sector, and the largest industry purchasing services from the Retail Trade Industry Sector is Construction.

In this flow diagram, all of the industries listed to the left are those places from which the highlighted industry has made purchases. They are the intermediate inputs to the highlighted industry. All those industries listed on the right side are those industries that have made purchases from the highlighted industry. They are the use of outputs of the highlighted industry. The visualizations below offer alternative ways to see and understand this data.

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Intermediate Inputs

HIGHEST INPUT INDUSTRY
  1. Professional and business services
  2. Transportation and warehousing
  3. Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing

The Retail Trade Industry Sector gets the most input, by its share of the cost of all intermediate inputs, from the Professional and business services Industry. This visualization does not include labor and capital costs.

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Use of Output by Other Industries

LARGEST PURCHASING INDUSTRY
  1. Construction
  2. Manufacturing
  3. Transportation and warehousing

The Construction Industry purchases the greatest share of products and services from the Retail Trade Industry Sector in order to produce other goods and services. Purchases of the Retail Trade Industry Sector for final consumption by consumers, businesses, or government are not included here.

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Establishments

States with more establishments in 2022
  1. California
    107,053
  2. Texas
    83,788
  3. Florida
    75,743

The charts shows the distribution of establishments in the Retail Trade industry by states and the number of establishments according to size.

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Median Earnings

States with the highest median earnings in 2024
  1. Washington
    $40,467
  2. District of Columbia
    $36,058
  3. Rhode Island
    $36,023

The charts shows the median earnings of the Retail Trade industry by state and the annual evolution of the median earnings of the industry compared to the national level.

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Diversity

Demographic information on the Retail Trade Industry Sector in the US.

Of the total workforce, 47.8% corresponds to women and 52.2% men. Male employees tend to earn more than Female employees, with average respective salaries of $54,745 and $37,905.

75.6% of workers have a high school or equivalent, some college or bachelors degree.

Gender and Age

8,163,861
Women
47.8%
8,905,492
Men
52.2%

The workforce of Retail Trade industry in 2024 was 17,069,353 people, with 47.8% woman, and 52.2% men.

The visualization shows the distribution of the workforce by gender and age in Retail Trade industry.

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Races

In 2024, 61.6% of the workforce in the Retail Trade industry was White (10,523,160 people), of which 47.1% were women and 52.9% men.

Other races that concentrated a significant number of workers were Two or More Races and Black.

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Educational Levels

The main educational levels achieved by the Retail Trade workers in 2024 were high school or equivalent (5,727,882 people), some college (4,411,281 people), and bachelors degree (2,765,394 people).

The chart shows the Retail Trade workforce by gender and educational level.

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Projections

Growth projections of the Retail Trade industry, both by number of employees and output, from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The national workforce is projected to grow −1.17% in the next ten years. The Retail Trade industry has a lower projected workforce growth at −1.17%. Its projected 10-year growth in output (26.4%) is lower than the projected national growth in output (26.4%).

Job Growth

−1.17%
Estimated Job Growth
10-year Projection
−1.17%
National Growth
10-year Projection

This line chart shows the projected 10-year growth in the number of jobs for Retail Trade. This industry is expected to grow approximately the same than −1.17%, the average rate of national job growth.

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Output Growth

26.4%
Estimate Growth
10-year Projection

This line chart shows the projected 10-year growth in output of the Retail Trade industry.

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