Washington · NAICS 722 · Annual, 2025

Food Services and Drinking Places in Washington

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

In 2025, Food Services and Drinking Places (NAICS 722) employed about 248,700 people in Washington across roughly 16,991 establishments, with average annual pay of $34,100.

Employment in Food Services and Drinking Places in Washington grew 26.5% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 65.8% 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.

  • 248,700Employment, 2025
  • 16,991Establishments
  • $34,100Avg. annual pay
  • 6.9%Share of Washington jobs
  • 0.88Location 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 Food Services and Drinking Places in Washington, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 179,900 to 248,700.0100K200K300K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 179,900; 2005 187,500; 2006 193,900; 2007 199,900; 2008 200,500; 2009 191,400; 2010 189,300; 2011 192,900; 2012 198,700; 2013 207,400; 2014 216,000; 2015 225,700; 2016 234,500; 2017 240,300; 2018 247,700; 2019 251,200; 2020 196,700; 2021 213,600; 2022 241,900; 2023 250,800; 2024 251,000; 2025 248,700.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
2025248,72416,991$34,104 0.9%est. · 1.00
2024250,96316,807$32,818 0.1%pub.
2023250,82716,158$31,386 3.7%est. · 1.00
2022241,89216,474$29,542 13.3%pub.
2021213,58816,328$27,472 8.6%pub.
2020196,70215,923$23,977 21.7%pub.
2019251,20515,912$24,287 1.4%pub.
2018247,71715,804$23,051 3.1%est. · 1.00
2017240,27215,512$21,862 2.4%est. · 1.00
2016234,53815,311$20,417 3.9%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 Washington, quarterly, at full depth

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