North Carolina · NAICS 44-45 · Annual, 2025

Retail Trade in North Carolina

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 44-45 in North Carolina, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Retail Trade (NAICS 44-45) employed about 533,800 people in North Carolina across roughly 38,691 establishments, with average annual pay of $40,340.

Employment in Retail Trade in North Carolina grew 7.7% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 43.6% below the all-industries average in North Carolina. Employment reached its 2004–2025 peak in 2025, at about 533,800. 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.

  • 533,800Employment, 2025
  • 38,691Establishments
  • $40,340Avg. annual pay
  • 10.8%Share of North Carolina jobs
  • 1.09Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Retail Trade in North Carolina, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 440,900 to 533,800.0200K400K600K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 440,900; 2005 450,200; 2006 456,900; 2007 470,400; 2008 467,800; 2009 443,100; 2010 440,800; 2011 447,500; 2012 457,600; 2013 466,900; 2014 478,400; 2015 490,900; 2016 501,900; 2017 505,200; 2018 506,500; 2019 508,100; 2020 495,500; 2021 517,300; 2022 526,000; 2023 531,300; 2024 531,900; 2025 533,800.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
2025533,80838,691$40,339 0.4%pub.
2024531,92838,511$39,069 0.1%pub.
2023531,30238,809$38,518 1.0%est. · 1.00
2022525,98437,158$37,722 1.7%pub.
2021517,28635,869$35,369 4.4%pub.
2020495,52435,051$32,313 2.5%est. · 1.00
2019508,08434,674$29,763 0.3%est. · 1.00
2018506,52534,526$28,611 0.3%est. · 1.00
2017505,16234,432$27,769 0.7%est. · 1.00
2016501,87634,362$27,257 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 · 9 shown

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.

Retail Trade in North Carolina, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for retail 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.