Methodology & sources

What this site adds, stated plainly — including what already exists free elsewhere.

What is here that isn't free anywhere else

Industry net profit margin and cost structure — the headline figure on every page — derived from IRS Statistics of Income (the Corporation Complete Report, Publication 16, and the partnership / nonfarm sole-proprietorship tables for pass-through-heavy industries). Margin is derived as net income (less deficit) ÷ total receipts; the exact numerator and denominator are shown on each figure's provenance page. SOI is a weighted sample, so each figure carries a coefficient of variation, surfaced as the confidence indicator rather than hidden.

What is here that IS free elsewhere (and where)

Establishment counts, employment, and wages by industry and location are also available for free from Data USA (datausa.io), which draws on the same Census/BLS sources. County Business Patterns and QCEW are downloadable directly from the government. Public-company margin averages are free from Damodaran (NYU Stern), CSIMarket, and ReadyRatios — but those cover public companies only, not the small/private businesses these pages describe. Some IRS-derived small-business margins have historically been published free (e.g. BizStats), generally at an older data vintage. We link these openly so you can compare; what we aim to add is a current, clean, provenance-linked presentation, not a claim of exclusivity.

What we will not do

• We never create a local (state/metro/county) profit-margin figure — no source publishes one, and estimating it would be fabrication.
• We never pass judgment ("healthy," "underperforming") — only report the number.
• We never publish a page for an industry/geography combination the source suppressed.