Illinois · NAICS 42 · Annual, 2025

Wholesale Trade in Illinois

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 42 in Illinois, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Wholesale Trade (NAICS 42) employed about 297,500 people in Illinois across roughly 21,899 establishments, with average annual pay of $109,890.

Employment in Wholesale Trade in Illinois grew 5.7% from 2020 to 2025. The industry is 1.3× as concentrated in Illinois as in the nation as a whole (location quotient 1.26). Average pay in the industry is 37.3% above the all-industries average in Illinois. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for Illinois are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 297,500Employment, 2025
  • 21,899Establishments
  • $109,890Avg. annual pay
  • 4.9%Share of Illinois jobs
  • 1.26Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Wholesale Trade in Illinois, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 300,100 to 297,500.0100K200K300K400K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 300,100; 2005 302,500; 2006 308,400; 2007 310,800; 2008 309,900; 2009 292,000; 2010 286,000; 2011 289,500; 2012 294,300; 2013 298,400; 2014 299,800; 2015 301,300; 2016 301,700; 2017 304,900; 2018 294,500; 2019 294,900; 2020 281,600; 2021 282,000; 2022 296,300; 2023 302,500; 2024 302,800; 2025 297,500.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
2025297,47521,899$109,894 1.8%pub.
2024302,81722,463$107,315 0.1%pub.
2023302,47922,866$106,267 2.1%pub.
2022296,25623,282$102,626 5.1%pub.
2021281,98523,568$96,560 0.1%pub.
2020281,57923,965$89,713 4.5%pub.
2019294,86324,598$86,815 0.1%pub.
2018294,50524,781$84,178 3.4%pub.
2017304,94325,055$80,599 1.1%pub.
2016301,70428,469$78,759 0.1%pub.

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.

By subsector, 2025

3-digit NAICS · 3 shown

CodeSubsectorEmploymentShare of wholesale tradeLQSource
423Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods157,97453.1%1.19pub.
424Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods117,06639.4%1.37pub.
425Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers22,4357.5%1.29pub.

Where these numbers come from

Reading these figures

The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Where QCEW withheld a value, the marked figure is an estimate that DTG produced under the constraints of the published record; suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG, and a withheld value is marked rather than silently omitted. Two things DTG itself holds back, and says so where it does: an estimate that cannot be given a reliability score is not shown, and average pay is not shown where fewer than three jobs are reported. The row is marked withheld, with the reason in a note beneath the table. The mark is on every row that carries a value: the headline, the yearly history, the subsectors and the other states. An estimated value that rounds below one is shown as less than one, not as zero. Quarterly figures, county figures and projected years are in the app.

How this figure was built

Employment is the average of the three monthly counts in each quarter, averaged across the year, and establishments are averaged across the year the same way. Average annual pay is the year’s total wages divided by that average employment. Each of these is DTG’s value: QCEW’s published figure where QCEW disclosed it, and DTG’s estimate, marked, where it did not. How withheld values are estimated, and what the reliability score beside a figure means, are described on the industry data and disclosure and provenance pages.

Estimated by Data Tactical Group from BLS QCEW, with CES/SAE and projection inputs described in the methodology. Method: Disclosure, Industry.

Notes

Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.

Wholesale Trade in Illinois, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for wholesale trade in Illinois. A free account shows every detailed industry beneath it, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.

County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.