California · NAICS 51 · Annual, 2025
Information in California
Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 51 in California, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.
In 2025, Information (NAICS 51) employed about 538,300 people in California across roughly 31,368 establishments, with average annual pay of $322,570.
Employment in Information in California grew 7.9% from 2004 to 2025. The industry is 1.5× as concentrated in California as in the nation as a whole (location quotient 1.54). Average pay in the industry is 232.7% above the all-industries average in California. 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.
- 538,300Employment, 2025
- 31,368Establishments
- $322,570Avg. annual pay
- 3.0%Share of California jobs
- 1.54Location quotient
Employment, 2004 to 2025
Annual average · all ownerships
Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 498,800; 2005 486,200; 2006 486,100; 2007 487,100; 2008 484,200; 2009 454,500; 2010 437,900; 2011 438,300; 2012 442,000; 2013 457,200; 2014 470,500; 2015 495,900; 2016 531,300; 2017 527,300; 2018 540,300; 2019 564,800; 2020 540,300; 2021 572,600; 2022 618,500; 2023 572,000; 2024 551,300; 2025 538,300.
Last ten years
Annual · 10 years
| Year | Employment | Estab. | Avg. annual pay | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 538,324 | 31,368 | $322,565 | 2.4% | pub. |
| 2024 | 551,253 | 31,266 | $281,756 | 3.6% | pub. |
| 2023 | 571,993 | 31,922 | $236,864 | 7.5% | pub. |
| 2022 | 618,462 | 31,503 | $209,485 | 8.0% | pub. |
| 2021 | 572,569 | 30,767 | $247,014 | 6.0% | pub. |
| 2020 | 540,313 | 29,706 | $213,972 | 4.3% | pub. |
| 2019 | 564,777 | 28,745 | $187,466 | 4.5% | pub. |
| 2018 | 540,269 | 26,808 | $184,288 | 2.5% | pub. |
| 2017 | 527,276 | 22,731 | $168,774 | 0.8% | pub. |
| 2016 | 531,279 | 20,920 | $144,428 | 7.1% | 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 · 6 shown
| Code | Subsector | Employment | Share of information | LQ | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 512 | Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries | 120,536 | 22.4% | 2.85 | pub. |
| 513 | Publishing Industries | 130,075 | 24.2% | 1.24 | pub. |
| 516 | Broadcasting and Content Providers | 83,020 | 15.4% | 2.09 | pub. |
| 517 | Telecommunications | 49,319 | 9.2% | 0.71 | pub. |
| 518 | Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services | 81,890 | 15.2% | 1.43 | pub. |
| 519 | Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services | 73,484 | 13.7% | 2.03 | 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.
Information in California, quarterly, at full depth
This page shows annual figures for information 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.