Retail's Impact

small business displaying USA flag

Retail’s Impact

Retail supports more than
1 in 4 American jobs.

Select your state below to see retail’s impact where you live. 

Retail is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, contributing $5.3 trillion to annual GDP and supporting more than one in four U.S. jobs — 55 million working Americans.

Conducted by PwC, The Economic Contribution of the U.S. Retail Industry examines the direct, indirect and induced contribution of the retail industry to the U.S. economy.

Download the full report to dive into the number of retail establishments, labor income, employment and impact on GDP across the country. Select a state below to see data for each state.  

Download the full report

U.S. retail by the numbers

  • $5.3T
  • $1.3T
  • 4.6M
  • 32.2M
  • 55M
  • $2.2T

Retail’s impact, state by state

Select a state icon below to view retail’s impact on each state. 


Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
D.C.
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Source: All data comes from the PwC report, The Economic Contribution of the U.S. Retail Industry, except where otherwise noted.

The retail industry is defined as including retail, food services and drinking places.
Unless otherwise noted, the total impact statistics combine the industry’s direct, indirect and induced impacts. Employment is defined as the number of payroll and self-employed jobs, including part-time jobs. Labor income is defined as annual wages and salaries and benefits as well as proprietors’ income. An establishment is a single physical location at which business is conducted. A business may consist of more than one establishment.