California · NAICS 48-49 · Annual, 2025

Transportation and Warehousing in California

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 48-49 in California, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Transportation and Warehousing (NAICS 48-49) employed about 864,200 people in California across roughly 43,151 establishments, with average annual pay of $80,080.

Employment in Transportation and Warehousing in California grew 11.8% from 2020 to 2025. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for California are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 864,200Employment, 2025
  • 43,151Establishments
  • $80,080Avg. annual pay
  • 4.7%Share of California jobs
  • 0.97Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Transportation and Warehousing in California, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 543,000 to 864,200.0250K500K750K1M20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 543,000; 2005 544,400; 2006 552,500; 2007 557,000; 2008 557,500; 2009 521,900; 2010 510,900; 2011 513,700; 2012 522,400; 2013 538,700; 2014 558,700; 2015 590,900; 2016 626,800; 2017 667,900; 2018 706,500; 2019 746,600; 2020 773,000; 2021 830,400; 2022 887,800; 2023 869,500; 2024 867,200; 2025 864,200.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
2025864,18543,151$80,081 0.4%pub.
2024867,21741,835$79,522 0.3%pub.
2023869,48042,507$74,588 2.1%pub.
2022887,82239,428$69,307 6.9%pub.
2021830,37034,988$69,793 7.4%pub.
2020772,96431,385$64,505 3.5%pub.
2019746,60028,699$64,341 5.7%pub.
2018706,48427,015$59,166 5.8%pub.
2017667,93724,080$56,611 6.6%pub.
2016626,82922,433$55,545 6.1%pub.

† 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 · 11 shown

CodeSubsectorEmploymentShare of transportation and warehousingLQSource
481Air Transportation58,5576.8%0.88pub.
482Rail Transportation220.0%0.13est. · 0.44
483Water Transportation3,7300.4%0.45pub.
484Truck Transportation143,49916.6%0.83pub.
485Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation91,16010.5%0.92pub.
486Pipeline Transportation1,5690.2%0.24pub.
487Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation4,2840.5%1.17pub.
488Support Activities for Transportation123,09414.2%1.17pub.
491Postal Service58,3956.8%0.83est. · 1.00
492Couriers and Messengers137,45715.9%1.05pub.
493Warehousing and Storage242,41928.1%1.08pub.

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

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.

Transportation and Warehousing in California, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for transportation and warehousing in California. 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.