North Carolina · NAICS 72 · Annual, 2025
Accommodation and Food Services in North Carolina
Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 72 in North Carolina, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.
In 2025, Accommodation and Food Services (NAICS 72) employed about 459,600 people in North Carolina across roughly 26,791 establishments, with average annual pay of $26,170.
Employment in Accommodation and Food Services in North Carolina grew 25.7% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 63.4% below the all-industries average in North Carolina. Employment reached its 2004–2025 peak in 2025, at about 459,600. 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.
- 459,600Employment, 2025
- 26,791Establishments
- $26,170Avg. annual pay
- 9.3%Share of North Carolina jobs
- 1.02Location quotient
Employment, 2004 to 2025
Annual average · all ownerships
Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 305,500; 2005 313,500; 2006 328,500; 2007 343,300; 2008 346,800; 2009 336,900; 2010 337,300; 2011 343,800; 2012 357,900; 2013 371,200; 2014 382,600; 2015 396,500; 2016 412,000; 2017 423,400; 2018 430,900; 2019 441,000; 2020 365,600; 2021 396,100; 2022 428,700; 2023 452,900; 2024 459,000; 2025 459,600.
Last ten years
Annual · 10 years
| Year | Employment | Estab. | Avg. annual pay | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 459,608 | 26,791 | $26,165 | 0.1% | pub. |
| 2024 | 459,039 | 26,338 | $25,305 | 1.4% | pub. |
| 2023 | 452,938 | 26,064 | $24,485 | 5.7% | pub. |
| 2022 | 428,723 | 24,542 | $23,487 | 8.2% | pub. |
| 2021 | 396,095 | 23,299 | $21,806 | 8.3% | est. · 1.00 |
| 2020 | 365,604 | 22,607 | $19,219 | 17.1% | est. · 1.00 |
| 2019 | 440,980 | 22,212 | $18,566 | 2.3% | est. · 1.00 |
| 2018 | 430,896 | 21,713 | $17,840 | 1.8% | est. · 1.00 |
| 2017 | 423,449 | 21,203 | $17,210 | 2.8% | est. · 1.00 |
| 2016 | 412,000 | 20,474 | $16,631 | 3.9% | 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 · 2 shown
| Code | Subsector | Employment | Share of accommodation and food services | LQ | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 721 | Accommodation | 45,369 | 9.9% | 0.71 | pub. |
| 722 | Food Services and Drinking Places | 414,240 | 90.1% | 1.07 | pub. |
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.
Notes
Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.
Accommodation and Food Services in North Carolina, quarterly, at full depth
This page shows annual figures for accommodation and food services 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.