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8 Cafe Industry Statistics Every Owner Should Know in 2026

There is no single official dataset called the cafe industry. Depending on the source, a count may include coffee shops, doughnut shops, bagel shops, ice cream parlors, juice bars, or other snack businesses. It may also cover only employers with paid staff, only businesses covered by unemployment insurance, or only consumers who report drinking coffee.

We read the original Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and National Coffee Association sources and extracted the most useful numbers for cafe owners. The key is to keep each statistic beside its definition, reference year, and coverage limit so an industry total is not mistaken for a local cafe forecast.

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1. NAICS 722515 counted 85,140 employer establishments in 2023

The Census Bureau's 2023 County Business Patterns data count 85,140 employer establishments in NAICS 722515, Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars. An establishment is an operating location, and this series covers businesses with paid employees. The number is therefore a useful fixed-location benchmark, but it is not a count of every cafe, every owner-operated business, or every place that sells coffee.

The Census definition includes businesses primarily preparing specialty snacks or serving nonalcoholic beverages for consumption on or near the premises. Its examples include coffee shops with on-premise brewing, beverage bars, doughnut shops, bagel shops, pretzel shops, cookie shops, ice cream parlors, and juice bars. Mobile vehicles serving snacks or nonalcoholic beverages are classified in NAICS 722330, Mobile Food Services, while some specialty restaurants and food retailers are classified elsewhere.

2. The broader category generated $68.4 billion in 2023 employer revenue

The Census Bureau's 2023 Annual Integrated Economic Survey reports $68,364,765,000 in sales, value of shipments, or revenue for employer businesses in NAICS 722515. Rounded for readability, that is $68.4 billion. This is the most useful published national revenue figure in the sources reviewed, but it belongs to the broader snack and nonalcoholic beverage bar category rather than to coffee shops alone.

The AIES universe consists of domestic, private-sector, nonfarm employer businesses in operation for at least part of 2023, located in the 50 states or the District of Columbia, and having paid employees. The figure is an industry estimate for that universe, not a forecast for 2026, not revenue per cafe, and not a direct measure of consumer spending on coffee.

3. Employer businesses reported 946,073 employees and $17.4 billion in annual payroll

The same AIES table reports 946,073 employees and $17,406,043,000 in annual payroll for employer businesses in the category in 2023. Payroll and employment describe the labor footprint of the measured employer universe, while revenue describes sales. They are separate statistics and should not be combined into a simple average wage or profit estimate without checking that the numerator and denominator use compatible definitions.

The AIES employee count is not a complete count of every person working in a cafe-related business. Owner-operators without paid employees are outside the employer universe, and the survey's employee measure is not the same as QCEW annual average employment. Payroll is also not profit: it does not account for rent, ingredients, equipment, utilities, taxes, debt, or other operating costs.

4. Nonemployer businesses reported $908.9 million in 2023 receipts

The Census Bureau's 2023 Nonemployer Statistics table reports $908,938,000 in receipts for NAICS 722515, or about $908.9 million. Nonemployer businesses have no paid employees and meet the program's receipts and tax-filing criteria. This separate figure matters because an employer-only industry total does not describe businesses operated without paid staff.

The employer AIES revenue and nonemployer receipts should be shown as separate coverage layers. Adding them mechanically and calling the result total cafe revenue would blur different statistical universes and could imply a level of precision the sources do not support. For market research, the useful conclusion is that the formal employer market is not the whole business population.

5. QCEW recorded 83,817 private establishments and a $464 average weekly wage in 2024

The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages 2024 annual-average data for private NAICS 722515 report 83,817 establishments, 945,076 average annual employees, a $464 average weekly wage, and $24,105 average annual pay. QCEW data come from employer reports to state workforce agencies and provide a labor-market view that is close to a census of covered payroll employment.

These figures should not be treated as a direct continuation of the 85,140 Census establishments in 2023. QCEW uses its own coverage rules, reports annual averages for employment, and classifies 2024 data under NAICS 2022. BLS also warns that average pay is shaped by the mix of full-time and part-time workers, turnover, bonuses, tips, and other factors. The $464 figure is an industry average, not a typical cafe worker's full-time wage.

6. 73% of American adults drank coffee in the past week

The National Coffee Association's Spring 2026 release reports that 73% of American adults drank coffee in the past week and 66% drank coffee in the past day. The survey was fielded from January 5 to 20, 2026, among a nationally representative sample of 1,850 Americans age 18 and older. These figures describe the size and frequency of the consumer habit behind the category.

The same release reports 82% home preparation and 28% away-from-home preparation among past-day coffee drinkers. Away from home is broader than cafes and can include workplaces, restaurants, convenience locations, and other settings. Coffee consumption is therefore demand context, not a count of cafe establishments, transactions, revenue, or market share.

7. Industry totals cannot tell you how much a local cafe can sell

The national statistics answer different questions: Census CBP counts employer establishments, AIES measures employer revenue and payroll, Nonemployer Statistics measures receipts for businesses without paid employees, QCEW measures covered employment and wages, and NCA measures reported coffee behavior. None of these sources gives the sales potential of one neighborhood or the revenue of an average independent cafe.

Local demand depends on variables the national tables do not align: the number of nearby competitors, fixed versus mobile format, seats, opening hours, traffic patterns, office and residential density, drive-through access, menu, pricing, and customer mix. A local market study should select one geographic area and one category definition before comparing businesses.

8. A local cafe benchmark needs locations, seats, transactions, hours, and sales

A practical local dataset starts with active competitor locations and format, then records seats, opening hours, transaction counts, net sales, channel, daypart, and food or beverage mix. A cafe can calculate average ticket as net sales divided by completed transactions, sales per seat-hour as net sales divided by seats and open hours, and revenue per open hour as net sales divided by open hours. These are local operating measures, not national industry statistics.

Keep the measurement period and coverage visible in every comparison. Separate dine-in, takeaway, drive-through, delivery, and retail sales where possible, and state whether taxes, tips, discounts, refunds, owner-only labor, and nonemployer businesses are included. That discipline makes the national figures useful as context without turning an official category total into a misleading promise about a particular cafe.

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