The accounting market, metro by metro
How many firms actually operate in a given city, how large they are and what they pay — from the Census Bureau's own count of establishments with employees. Four service codes, 20 metro areas.
By service
| Service | Firms nationwide | Avg pay | Per firm |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPA firms | 53,258 | $99,530 | 10.5 |
| Bookkeeping services | 44,377 | $56,378 | 5.3 |
| Tax preparation | 26,819 | $25,031 | 4.7 |
| Payroll services | 4,560 | $81,145 | 26.6 |
By metro
- New York, NY — 4,261 CPA firms
- Los Angeles, CA — 3,514 CPA firms
- Miami, FL — 2,009 CPA firms
- Chicago, IL — 1,818 CPA firms
- Dallas, TX — 1,197 CPA firms
- Atlanta, GA — 1,179 CPA firms
- Washington, DC — 1,065 CPA firms
- Houston, TX — 1,037 CPA firms
- Philadelphia, PA — 1,028 CPA firms
- San Francisco, CA — 916 CPA firms
- Boston, MA — 834 CPA firms
- Phoenix, AZ — 814 CPA firms
- Denver, CO — 792 CPA firms
- Seattle, WA — 692 CPA firms
- Minneapolis, MN — 544 CPA firms
- Charlotte, NC — 454 CPA firms
- Austin, TX — 393 CPA firms
- Columbus, OH — 300 CPA firms
- Jacksonville, FL — 295 CPA firms
- San Antonio, TX — 291 CPA firms
Why firm size is the number to look at
Establishment counts tell you how crowded a market is; employees per firm tell you what kind of market it is. Washington DC averages 20.9 employees per CPA practice, Miami 5.5. Same profession, same country, completely different businesses — one is built on institutional clients, the other on a long tail of small ones.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2022, NAICS 5412 and its four sub-codes. Metro figures cover the full statistical area, which is wider than the city itself.