US states by business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census)

California had the highest business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census) of 51 states in 2017, at $594.86 billion. District of Columbia had the lowest, at $5.53 billion. The median was $63.74 billion and the figure for the United States was $4.95 trillion. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest594,861.4California

Lowest5,533.9District of Columbia

Median63,740.451 states

United States4,949,601.5History

Map of states, 2017

Under 20K
20K to 39K
39K to 64K
64K to 100K
100K to 150K
150K and over

USD million, 2017. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2017

USD million. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2017 USD million
1	California	594,861.4
2	Texas	417,231.9
3	Florida	333,134.6
4	New York	291,724.9
5	Pennsylvania	234,836.3
6	Ohio	174,299.7
7	Illinois	173,473.9
8	Washington	160,284.8
9	New Jersey	149,171.3
10	Georgia	148,624.6
11	Michigan	143,437.1
12	North Carolina	141,134.3
13	Virginia	120,162.1
14	Massachusetts	110,194.5
15	Arizona	104,365.6
16	Indiana	102,106
17	Tennessee	101,978.3
18	Missouri	100,394
19	Minnesota	91,993.6
20	Wisconsin	91,763.8
21	Maryland	84,966.2
22	Colorado	84,930.6
23	South Carolina	69,980.1
24	Louisiana	65,000.8
25	Kentucky	64,294.3
26	Alabama	63,740.4
27	Oregon	61,699.3
28	Connecticut	55,404.5
29	Oklahoma	53,382.1
30	Iowa	50,063.1
31	Utah	50,008.3
32	Nevada	45,110.7
33	Arkansas	40,174.1
34	Kansas	39,337.5
35	Mississippi	36,920.6
36	Nebraska	31,214.7
37	New Hampshire	30,039.4
38	New Mexico	26,404.3
39	Idaho	24,936.1
40	Maine	23,878.7
41	West Virginia	23,057.8
42	Hawaii	21,658.9
43	North Dakota	19,251.1
44	Delaware	17,667.9
45	Montana	16,935.8
46	South Dakota	14,673.7
47	Rhode Island	13,843.5
48	Vermont	10,811.3
49	Alaska	10,384.8
50	Wyoming	9,124.4
51	District of Columbia	5,533.9

Other periods

2022
2017

About this ranking

Sales, value of shipments or revenue of employer establishments in retail trade (NAICS 44-45), in millions of current US dollars, from the U.S. Census Bureau Economic Census.

Economic Census, taken every five years: values exist for 2017 and 2022 only, and the 2027 census publishes about 2029. Revenue of employer establishments located in the place, in millions of current US dollars, not adjusted for inflation; nonemployers (nonemployer_receipts_usd_*) are not included, and government owned establishments are generally out of scope. Manufacturing is the value of shipments and wholesale and retail trade are sales, so an establishment selling to another counts in both and sectors do not add up to output or GDP. Cells that would disclose individual companies (flag D) or that Census does not publish are missing here, not zero; counties are published for 14 of the 18 sectors. Sectors follow NAICS 2017 for 2017 and NAICS 2022 for 2022.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2017/sector00/EC1700BASIC.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Census Bureau. (2021). Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments (US states by business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census), 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2017/sector00/EC1700BASIC.zip

MLA 9

Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments, US states by business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census), 2017. U.S. Census Bureau, 27 May 2021, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2017/sector00/EC1700BASIC.zip. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-revenue-retail-trade/us-states?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2021. Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments. US states by business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census), 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2017/sector00/EC1700BASIC.zip. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-revenue-retail-trade/us-states?period=2017.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2021) Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments, US states by business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census), 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2017/sector00/EC1700BASIC.zip, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-revenue-retail-trade/us-states?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_business_2017,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments: US states by business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census), 2017}},
  year = {2021},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2017/sector00/EC1700BASIC.zip},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-revenue-retail-trade/us-states?period=2017. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2017/sector00/EC1700BASIC.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments: US states by business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census), 2017
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/05/27
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2017/sector00/EC1700BASIC.zip
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-revenue-retail-trade/us-states?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-revenue-retail-trade/us-states?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2017/sector00/EC1700BASIC.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which state has the highest business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census)?

California, with $594.86 billion in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census)?

District of Columbia, with $5.53 billion in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Economic Census basic statistics by geography (EC1700BASIC, EC2200BASIC): sales, value of shipments, or revenue (RCPTOT) of retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all establishments. Retrieved 2026-10-12.