Bars are a large U.S. hospitality workplace, with 40,835 employer establishments classified as drinking places serving alcoholic beverages in 2023. In May 2023, the broader drinking-place occupation profile counted 411,940 jobs, including 182,100 bartenders. These figures from the Census Bureau Profile and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) describe the scale, staffing mix, wages, safety, and recent performance of the industry.
Bar statistics at a glance
- 40,835 employer establishments operated in NAICS 7224, Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages), in 2023 (Census Bureau Profile).
- 411,940 jobs were recorded for NAICS 722400, Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages), in May 2023 (BLS OEWS 2023).
- 182,100 of those jobs were held by bartenders, representing 44.21% of total employment (BLS OEWS 2023).
- Food preparation and serving related occupations accounted for 343,620 jobs, or 83.42% of employment (BLS OEWS 2023).
- Private industry establishments across food services and drinking places totaled 719,780 in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 727,722 in the third quarter of 2025 (BLS Industry at a Glance).
- Total recordable cases were 2.4 per 100 full-time workers in food services and drinking places in 2024 (BLS Industry at a Glance).
Contents
- How large is the bar industry?
- Which jobs dominate bar employment?
- Bartender and service-work statistics
- Management and business roles
- Live entertainment and nightlife staffing
- Safety, establishments, and fatalities
- Productivity and workforce measures
How large is the bar industry?
The Census Bureau Profile counted 40,835 employer establishments in NAICS 7224, Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages), during 2023. An establishment is a business location in this classification, so the number gives a useful picture of the number of employer-operated drinking places rather than a count of every venue, event, or informal bar operation.
The BLS OEWS 2023 profile uses the related NAICS 722400 classification and measured 411,940 workers across all occupations in May 2023. The two figures have different purposes and periods: the Census Bureau number measures establishments in 2023, while the BLS figure measures employment in May 2023. They should therefore be read as complementary indicators, not as a direct establishments-per-worker calculation.
For the wider category of food services and drinking places, the BLS Industry at a Glance series reported 719,780 private industry establishments in the fourth quarter of 2024. The same source reported 727,722 establishments in the third quarter of 2025. Those measures cover a broader industry than drinking places alone and use different quarters, making the category and measurement period important when comparing them with the 2023 drinking-place count.
Which jobs dominate bar employment?
The May 2023 occupation profile shows that bars rely heavily on front-line food and beverage work. Food preparation and serving related occupations employed 343,620 people in NAICS 722400, equal to 83.42% of total employment. Within that broad group, food and beverage serving workers accounted for 235,750 jobs, or 57.23% of all employment.
Bartenders formed the largest specifically named occupation in the profile. Their 182,100 jobs represented 44.21% of total employment. Waiters and waitresses added 50,430 jobs, while dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers accounted for 14,480. The profile also counted 7,990 hosts and hostesses in restaurants, lounges, and coffee shops, plus 6,110 dishwashers.
The following comparison keeps the BLS occupation definitions and May 2023 geography consistent: each figure refers to NAICS 722400 in the United States.
| Occupation or group | Employment | Share of total where supplied |
|---|---|---|
| All occupations | 411,940 | 100% reference total |
| Food preparation and serving related occupations | 343,620 | 83.42% |
| Food and beverage serving workers | 235,750 | 57.23% |
| Bartenders | 182,100 | 44.21% |
| Waiters and waitresses | 50,430 | Not supplied |
| Dining room attendants and bartender helpers | 14,480 | Not supplied |
| Hosts and hostesses | 7,990 | Not supplied |
| Dishwashers | 6,110 | Not supplied |
Because the supplied percentages are published shares, the table does not infer percentages for occupations where no share was provided. It also does not treat the listed occupations as mutually exclusive substitutes for every broader group; occupational classification levels can overlap in a statistical profile.
Bartender and service-work statistics
BLS OEWS 2023 reported a mean hourly wage of $16.64 for bartenders in NAICS 722400 in May 2023. The corresponding annual mean wage was $34,620. These are mean wage measures for the occupation and classification, not guaranteed pay for an individual bartender or a statement about tips at a particular venue.
Waiters and waitresses had an annual mean wage of $37,330 in the same May 2023 profile. That figure is higher than the reported bartender annual mean, but the supplied data does not provide a comparable waiter hourly mean, median wage, tip breakdown, schedule, or regional split. Direct wage comparisons should therefore remain limited to the annual means reported by the source.
The scale of the service workforce is also visible in the count of 235,750 food and beverage serving workers. Bartenders alone made up 182,100 positions, while the broader serving-worker category included other roles. The 343,620 jobs in food preparation and serving related occupations show how much of the bar workforce is concentrated in customer service, preparation, and operational support rather than office-based work.
Management and business roles
Management occupations accounted for 17,310 jobs in May 2023, or 4.20% of total employment in NAICS 722400. Their median hourly wage was $30.00, mean hourly wage was $36.68, and annual mean wage was $76,280 (BLS OEWS 2023). These measures describe a relatively small employment group with higher reported average wages than the front-line bartender figure.
Top executives numbered 12,190 and represented 2.96% of total employment. The group had a median hourly wage of $28.99, a mean hourly wage of $36.88, and an annual mean wage of $76,710. Within it, chief executives accounted for 60 jobs and had an annual mean wage of $164,810. General and operations managers accounted for 12,140 jobs and had an annual mean wage of $76,300.
Other management detail included 210 advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales managers, with an annual mean wage of $93,590. Marketing and sales managers accounted for 180 jobs, while sales managers had an annual mean wage of $97,860. Operations specialties managers accounted for 360 jobs. Other management occupations totaled 4,550 jobs, and food service managers totaled 4,160 jobs, with an annual mean wage of $70,910.
The profile also included 2,910 business and financial operations jobs, with an annual mean wage of $61,130. Financial specialists accounted for 530 jobs and had an annual mean wage of $87,080. Accountants and auditors also accounted for 530 jobs, with an annual mean wage of $87,090. These figures show that bar operations include financial, marketing, and planning work in addition to the roles most visible on the floor.
Live entertainment and nightlife staffing
Entertainment-related work is a measurable part of the May 2023 drinking-place profile. Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations accounted for 8,060 jobs, or 1.96% of total employment in NAICS 722400. Entertainers and performers, sports, and related workers accounted for 7,520 jobs.
Two specifically named nightlife-related occupations were dancers and choreographers, with 4,060 jobs, and disc jockeys, except radio, with 2,040 jobs. These counts are national occupation measures for the drinking-place classification in May 2023. They do not estimate the number of performances, shows, venues with live music, audience members, or independent contractors outside the classification.
Protective service work was another substantial staffing category. Protective service occupations accounted for 18,540 jobs, including 18,200 security guards. For a nightlife reader, these figures help show that venue operations extend beyond drinks and entertainment: crowd safety and access control are also represented in the occupational profile.
Safety, establishments, and fatalities
The BLS Industry at a Glance data reported 2.4 total recordable cases per 100 full-time workers in food services and drinking places in 2024. Cases involving days away from work were 0.7 per 100 full-time workers. The two rates measure different subsets of workplace cases, so the days-away figure should not be read as a replacement for the total recordable-case rate.
The same source reported 145 fatalities in food services and drinking places in 2021 and 144 in 2022. These are counts for the broader food services and drinking places industry, not a bar-only fatality rate and not a rate per number of workers. The data supplied does not identify causes, locations, occupation, or state-level distribution for those fatalities.
Establishment counts provide additional context for the safety figures. The broader industry contained 719,780 private industry establishments in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 727,722 in the third quarter of 2025, according to BLS Industry at a Glance. Since these are different quarters and a broader category than NAICS 7224 drinking places, they should not be combined into a single bar-growth statistic.
Productivity and workforce measures
Industry performance changed substantially across the reported years. Total factor productivity in food services and drinking places increased 7.6% in 2021, then decreased 0.5% in 2023 (BLS Industry at a Glance). Output increased 22.4% in 2021 and increased 1.2% in 2024. Labor productivity increased 9.9% in 2021 and 1.6% in 2024.
These are year-specific percentage changes for the broader food services and drinking places industry. They are not a continuous forecast, and the supplied figures do not provide a base index, monthly path, or bar-only split. The differences between total factor productivity, labor productivity, and output matter: each measures a different aspect of industry performance.
Union membership among wage and salary workers in food services and drinking places was 1.4% in 2022 and 1.8% in 2025 (BLS Industry at a Glance). Those percentages cover the broader industry and the named years; they do not describe all workers, independent contractors, or a particular bar’s workforce. Together with the employment and wage data, they provide another way to understand the labor structure behind U.S. nightlife and drinking-place operations.