North Carolina · NAICS 311 · Annual, 2025
Food Manufacturing in North Carolina
Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 311 in North Carolina, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.
In 2025, Food Manufacturing (NAICS 311) employed about 61,400 people in North Carolina across roughly 1,216 establishments, with average annual pay of $54,340.
Employment in Food Manufacturing in North Carolina grew 6.4% from 2020 to 2025. 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.
- 61,400Employment, 2025
- 1,216Establishments
- $54,340Avg. annual pay
- 1.2%Share of North Carolina jobs
- 1.09Location quotient
Employment, 2004 to 2025
Annual average · all ownerships
Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 50,400; 2005 50,100; 2006 51,300; 2007 53,600; 2008 53,700; 2009 52,200; 2010 51,100; 2011 51,200; 2012 50,700; 2013 51,500; 2014 52,300; 2015 53,100; 2016 54,400; 2017 56,000; 2018 57,000; 2019 58,400; 2020 57,700; 2021 56,600; 2022 56,800; 2023 58,400; 2024 61,800; 2025 61,400.
Last ten years
Annual · 10 years
| Year | Employment | Estab. | Avg. annual pay | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 61,439 | 1,216 | $54,343 | 0.6% | pub. |
| 2024 | 61,791 | 1,204 | $52,196 | 5.8% | pub. |
| 2023 | 58,432 | 1,077 | $50,334 | 2.9% | pub. |
| 2022 | 56,801 | 969 | $49,337 | 0.3% | pub. |
| 2021 | 56,616 | 889 | $45,704 | 2.0% | pub. |
| 2020 | 57,747 | 845 | $43,974 | 1.1% | pub. |
| 2019 | 58,398 | 826 | $41,367 | 2.5% | pub. |
| 2018 | 56,960 | 803 | $41,701 | 1.7% | pub. |
| 2017 | 56,024 | 775 | $39,742 | 3.1% | pub. |
| 2016 | 54,360 | 754 | $38,560 | 2.4% | pub. |
The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.
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.
Food Manufacturing in North Carolina, quarterly, at full depth
This page shows annual figures for food manufacturing 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.