North Carolina · NAICS 722 · Annual, 2025

Food Services and Drinking Places in North Carolina

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 722 in North Carolina, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Food Services and Drinking Places (NAICS 722) employed about 414,200 people in North Carolina across roughly 24,151 establishments, with average annual pay of $25,290.

Employment in Food Services and Drinking Places in North Carolina grew 24.9% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 64.6% below the all-industries average in North Carolina. Employment reached its 2004–2025 peak in 2025, at about 414,200. 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.

  • 414,200Employment, 2025
  • 24,151Establishments
  • $25,290Avg. annual pay
  • 8.4%Share of North Carolina jobs
  • 1.07Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Food Services and Drinking Places in North Carolina, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 267,500 to 414,200.0200K400K600K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 267,500; 2005 275,500; 2006 289,500; 2007 302,500; 2008 306,300; 2009 299,800; 2010 300,000; 2011 305,500; 2012 318,500; 2013 331,600; 2014 341,900; 2015 354,400; 2016 368,600; 2017 378,900; 2018 385,600; 2019 394,400; 2020 331,800; 2021 358,700; 2022 386,300; 2023 407,400; 2024 413,100; 2025 414,200.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
2025414,24024,151$25,292 0.3%pub.
2024413,11023,656$24,478 1.4%pub.
2023407,44223,413$23,678 5.5%pub.
2022386,27721,996$22,724 7.7%pub.
2021358,66220,903$21,098 8.1%est. · 1.00
2020331,78020,299$18,568 15.9%est. · 1.00
2019394,44719,962$17,866 2.3%est. · 1.00
2018385,62719,515$17,140 1.8%est. · 1.00
2017378,87919,060$16,486 2.8%est. · 1.00
2016368,61318,327$15,971 4.0%est. · 1.00

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

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.

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.

Food Services and Drinking Places in North Carolina, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for food services and drinking places 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.