Industry Focus: Payroll Services Industry Focus

About 4,000 payroll services companies operate in the US, generating annual revenue of about $21 billion. Automatic Data Processing (ADP); Ceridian; and Paychex are the three largest and together have almost 50 percent market share. The rest of the industry consists of small companies, usually serving local or regional markets. The industry employs about 500,000 and its annual payroll exceeds $14 billion. Revenue per employee averages about $42,000.