North Carolina · NAICS 42 · Annual, 2025

Wholesale Trade in North Carolina

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

In 2025, Wholesale Trade (NAICS 42) employed about 208,000 people in North Carolina across roughly 23,358 establishments, with average annual pay of $104,140.

Employment in Wholesale Trade in North Carolina grew 13.9% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 45.6% above the all-industries average in North Carolina. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for North Carolina are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 208,000Employment, 2025
  • 23,358Establishments
  • $104,140Avg. annual pay
  • 4.2%Share of North Carolina jobs
  • 1.09Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Wholesale Trade in North Carolina, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 167,900 to 208,000.0100K200K300K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 167,900; 2005 170,500; 2006 176,800; 2007 182,600; 2008 181,100; 2009 167,200; 2010 165,000; 2011 168,200; 2012 171,800; 2013 173,900; 2014 176,800; 2015 178,800; 2016 182,900; 2017 185,100; 2018 182,400; 2019 187,300; 2020 182,700; 2021 190,400; 2022 202,200; 2023 208,600; 2024 207,700; 2025 208,000.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
2025208,01823,358$104,138 0.2%pub.
2024207,67323,623$100,234 0.4%pub.
2023208,59323,935$96,500 3.2%pub.
2022202,18022,837$91,584 6.2%pub.
2021190,43421,251$86,826 4.3%est. · 1.00
2020182,65420,603$81,483 2.5%est. · 1.00
2019187,27920,294$76,438 2.6%est. · 1.00
2018182,44319,990$74,059 1.5%est. · 1.00
2017185,14919,924$72,216 1.3%est. · 1.00
2016182,87019,954$69,043 2.3%est. · 1.00

† 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 Goods119,92157.6%1.11pub.
424Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods71,19334.2%1.02pub.
425Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers16,9038.1%1.20pub.

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 North Carolina, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for wholesale trade in North Carolina. 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.