Real Estate in California — margin & local benchmarks
The real estate industry's national net profit margin is 27.2% (national, owner-operator basis — no state-level margin exists in any public source). In California, there are 58,906 real estate establishments.
27.2%net profit margin · owner-operator basis
Owner-operator basis (IRS SOI sole proprietorships, TY2023): net income less deficit ÷ business receipts, at NAICS 531 (Real Estate). Sole-proprietor labor is not expensed, so this overstates corporate-style profit. Profit margin is published only nationally (IRS SOI);
this site never adjusts it to look local — see methodology.
Real Estate in California
Local counts from Census County Business Patterns (2023) and BLS QCEW. Establishment counts survive disclosure suppression; payroll/wage cells may be withheld and are then shown as insufficient data.
| Metric | Value | |
|---|---|---|
| Establishments in California | 58,906 | State 2023 source ↗ |
| Employment in California | 250,572 | State 2023 source ↗ |
| Annual payroll in California | $20,093,745,000 | State 2023 source ↗ |
| Average weekly wage in California | $1,736 | State 2024 source ↗ |
Business survival rates by firm age are published by Census BDS at the national level only (not by state or industry jointly) — so no local survival figure is shown here, rather than a misleading one.
Metro-level counts, multi-year trends, and geography-to-geography comparison are available to subscribers. This page shows the current national margin plus current California counts.
Frequently asked
How many real estate businesses are in California?
58,906 establishments (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
What is the average real estate wage in California?
$1,736 per week (BLS QCEW 2024, private sector).
What profit margin do real estate businesses make?
About 27.2% net margin nationally (owner-operator basis, IRS SOI) — no state-level margin is published.
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