Rhode Island · NAICS 42 · Annual, 2025

Wholesale Trade in Rhode Island

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 42 in Rhode Island, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Wholesale Trade (NAICS 42) employed about 16,400 people in Rhode Island across roughly 3,557 establishments, with average annual pay of $101,570.

Employment in Wholesale Trade in Rhode Island grew 9.8% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 42.8% above the all-industries average in Rhode Island. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for Rhode Island are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 16,400Employment, 2025
  • 3,557Establishments
  • $101,570Avg. annual pay
  • 3.3%Share of Rhode Island jobs
  • 0.85Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Wholesale Trade in Rhode Island, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 16,300 to 16,400.05K10K15K20K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 16,300; 2005 16,700; 2006 17,000; 2007 17,200; 2008 16,800; 2009 16,100; 2010 15,800; 2011 16,200; 2012 16,800; 2013 16,700; 2014 16,800; 2015 17,000; 2016 16,700; 2017 16,500; 2018 16,500; 2019 16,700; 2020 14,900; 2021 15,500; 2022 16,300; 2023 16,300; 2024 16,300; 2025 16,400.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
202516,3813,557$101,570 0.2%pub.
202416,3493,629$98,522 0.1%pub.
202316,3363,588$95,815 0.2%pub.
202216,3063,493$95,558 5.1%pub.
202115,5103,271$90,168 4.0%pub.
202014,9183,074$85,179 10.4%pub.
201916,6592,945$76,690 0.9%pub.
201816,5142,988$74,531 0.1%pub.
201716,4923,013$73,595 1.0%pub.
201616,6642,973$70,546 1.7%pub.

The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.

By subsector, 2025

3-digit NAICS · 3 shown

CodeSubsectorEmploymentShare of wholesale tradeLQSource
423Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods8,15949.8%0.75pub.
424Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods5,36232.7%0.76pub.
425Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers2,86017.5%2.01pub.

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.

Wholesale Trade in Rhode Island, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for wholesale trade in Rhode Island. 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.