Washington · NAICS 44-45 · Annual, 2025

Retail Trade in Washington

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 44-45 in Washington, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Retail Trade (NAICS 44-45) employed about 328,300 people in Washington across roughly 19,682 establishments, with average annual pay of $50,640.

Employment in Retail Trade in Washington declined 14.2% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 49.2% below the all-industries average in Washington. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for Washington are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 328,300Employment, 2025
  • 19,682Establishments
  • $50,640Avg. annual pay
  • 9.1%Share of Washington jobs
  • 0.92Location quotient

The 2025 figures above are a DTG estimate: Estimated · 1.00. † Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Retail Trade in Washington, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 307,000 to 328,300.0200K400K600K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 307,000; 2005 314,400; 2006 319,200; 2007 325,200; 2008 324,900; 2009 308,600; 2010 307,300; 2011 312,000; 2012 318,200; 2013 327,700; 2014 340,300; 2015 352,800; 2016 366,100; 2017 380,800; 2018 382,500; 2019 387,500; 2020 382,700; 2021 401,300; 2022 336,500; 2023 335,000; 2024 331,400; 2025 328,300.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
2025328,26819,682$50,638 0.9%est. · 1.00
2024331,36819,727$48,579 1.1%est. · 1.00
2023335,02319,390$46,788 0.4%est. · 1.00
2022336,51419,968$45,952 16.2%est. · 1.00
2021401,32520,101$76,135 4.9%est. · 1.00
2020382,73619,722$71,264 1.2%est. · 1.00
2019387,45019,738$62,083 1.3%est. · 1.00
2018382,45220,231$58,691 0.4%est. · 1.00
2017380,78220,420$52,438 4.0%est. · 1.00
2016366,13320,713$45,828 3.8%est. · 1.00

† 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 · 9 shown

† 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.

Retail Trade in Washington, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for retail trade in Washington. 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.