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Payroll data and research

The numbers that actually change a payroll decision: what the market pays, what providers charge, what mistakes cost, and who is outsourcing. Headline figures are published below, each with a named source and the year it comes from. The five full data sets are in preparation.

Primary sources only Reviewed August 2026 Full data sets in preparation

All PayrollModo research

Showing all 5 data sets

  • Industry benchmarks Updated Aug 2026

    Payroll Statistics 2026

    The baseline picture of American payroll: how many employers run one, how many workers it reaches, how much money moves through it, and how much of a paycheck never shows up as wages. Start here if you want the scale of the thing before you look at any one number.

    • 12.1MU.S. establishments covered by unemployment insurance
    • $11.7TTotal wages paid to 155.0 million covered workers in a year
    • 30.1%Share of private-industry compensation paid as benefits, on top of wages

    Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, annual averages 2024; BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, March 2026.

    Full data set in preparation
  • Cost & pricing Updated Aug 2026

    Payroll Service Cost & Pricing Benchmarks

    What payroll providers actually charge, taken from published price lists rather than sales calls, plus the statutory employer costs that sit underneath every quote you receive.

    • $17–$50Published monthly base fee, entry and mid-tier full-service plans
    • $4–$12Per-employee, per-month fee on standard plans
    • 10.4%Legally required employer taxes and insurance, as a share of wages

    Sources: PayrollModo review of published pricing from nine providers, August 2026; BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, March 2026.

    Full data set in preparation
  • Compliance & risk Updated Aug 2026

    Payroll Penalty & Compliance Statistics

    The published federal penalty rates for late deposits, unfiled W-2s, and unpaid trust fund taxes, next to what wage and hour enforcement recovered from employers last year.

    • 2–15%IRS failure-to-deposit penalty, tiered by how late the deposit is
    • 100%Trust Fund Recovery Penalty, charged personally to responsible people
    • $259MBack wages recovered for 176,957 workers in fiscal year 2025

    Sources: IRS, Failure to Deposit Penalty and Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (IRC §6672); U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division data, FY2025.

    Full data set in preparation
  • Industry benchmarks Updated Aug 2026

    Payroll Outsourcing & PEO Statistics

    How many businesses hand payroll to someone else, what they hand it to, and how big the provider and PEO markets have become.

    • 55%Small businesses using an outside payroll firm or a third-party platform
    • 4.5MWorksite employees served by U.S. PEOs
    • $76.5BU.S. payroll and bookkeeping services market, 2025

    Sources: NSBA 2025 Small Business Taxation Survey (n=625); NAPEO industry statistics; IBISWorld, Payroll & Bookkeeping Services in the US, 2025.

    Full data set in preparation
  • Industry benchmarks Updated Aug 2026

    Small Business Payroll Statistics

    The employer side of the small business economy: how many firms actually run payroll, how many people they pay, and how many are still doing it themselves.

    • 6.4MU.S. small businesses that have employees on payroll
    • 62.3MPeople employed by small businesses, 45.9% of the private workforce
    • 24%Small businesses still preparing payroll entirely in-house

    Sources: SBA Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business, January 2026 (2022 Census data); NSBA 2025 Small Business Taxation Survey.

    Full data set in preparation

No research in that category yet.

Where the numbers come from

  • Bureau of Labor Statistics
  • Internal Revenue Service
  • Department of Labor
  • SBA Office of Advocacy
  • U.S. Census Bureau
  • NSBA
  • NAPEO
  • Published provider pricing

How we source and check this data

Every figure on these pages is traced back to a named publisher, a reference year, and a link you can open. Where a number comes from a trade association, a vendor survey, or our own pricing review, we say so in the same sentence, because who produced a statistic changes how much weight it deserves.

  • Government data first. We use BLS, IRS, DOL, SBA, and Census figures wherever they exist.
  • No orphan statistics. If we cannot find the original study behind a widely quoted number, we leave it out.
  • Dates on everything. Each page shows the reference year, so you can tell a 2026 rate from a 2019 survey.

These pages are for research and planning, not tax, legal, or accounting advice. Confirm current rates and filing requirements with your accountant or the relevant agency before you act on them. Read our full methodology for how we collect, check, and update this data, and how we verify providers before listing them.

Put the data to work

Run the numbers on your business

The benchmarks above tell you what is normal. These tools are live now, and they tell you what is true for your headcount, your states, and your quote.

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In-House vs Outsourced Payroll Cost Calculator

Compare the internal cost of running payroll yourself against the pricing benchmarks on this page.

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Payroll Penalty Risk Calculator

Apply the IRS failure-to-deposit tiers to a real deposit amount and see what a missed quarter costs.

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True Cost of a Pay Run

Turn any quote into a cost per paycheck so it sits on the same scale as the market bands above.

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