Remediation InsiderIndependent reporting on restoration and remediation

The Remediation Establishment Census: Firms and Employment by State

Remediation Insider Editorial Team

Illustration: an unmarked work van and palletised drying equipment in a small company yard.

The finding

This remediation establishment census counts 9,387 private establishments and 96,727 employees across 52 US jurisdictions in NAICS 562910 for 2026Q1, per the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Read the scope carefully: NAICS 562910 is Remediation Services, meaning environmental remediation of contaminated soil, groundwater, asbestos and lead. It is not water damage or fire restoration of buildings, which BLS and the Census Bureau scatter across construction and other services codes. This is the closest available official count, and the reason no clean official count of restoration exists.

Headline figures

9,387Private establishments, NAICS 562910, 2026Q1BLS QCEW
96,727Employees, 2026Q1BLS QCEW
10.3Average employees per establishmentDerived
+13.3%Change in establishments since 2022Q4Derived

In this report

  1. What NAICS 562910 counts, and what it leaves out
  2. Establishments and employment, every state
  3. Establishment density per 100,000 residents
  4. The fragmentation score
  5. Multi-year change in establishment counts
  6. Average weekly wage by state
  7. Why published market-size figures disagree
  8. Method
  9. Reproduce this
  10. What this does not show
  11. Questions this report answers
  12. Sources

Key findings

  1. BLS QCEW records 9,387 private establishments and 96,727 employees in NAICS 562910 across 52 jurisdictions in 2026Q1.
  2. NAICS 562910 is environmental remediation, not building restoration. Per the US Census Bureau NAICS 562910 definition, the code covers remediation and cleanup of contaminated buildings, mine sites, soil and groundwater, including asbestos and lead abatement. Fire and flood restoration of buildings sits elsewhere, so no figure in this report is a count of restoration firms.
  3. The national fragmentation score computed from the QCEW 2026Q1 file is 10.3 employees per establishment, and the median state sits at 8.5. This is a sector of small firms.
  4. Washington is the most consolidated market at 21.1 employees per establishment in 2026Q1, against 4.8 in Rhode Island, a 4.4 times difference per BLS QCEW.
  5. Per BLS QCEW for 2026Q1, California holds the most establishments at 758, which is 8.1% of the national count.
  6. Alaska has the highest establishment density at 10.00 establishments per 100,000 residents, derived from QCEW 2026Q1 counts and US Census Bureau 2025 population estimates.
  7. Between 2022Q4 and 2026Q1, BLS QCEW shows establishments in NAICS 562910 rising by 1,102 nationally, or +13.3%. 45 of 52 jurisdictions gained establishments and 7 lost them.
  8. The largest absolute gain since 2022Q4 is California at +151 establishments, and the largest decline is New Jersey at -23, per BLS QCEW.

What NAICS 562910 counts, and what it leaves out

Every figure in this report comes from NAICS 562910. Per the US Census Bureau NAICS 562910 definition, that code is Remediation Services, and it comprises establishments primarily engaged in the remediation and cleanup of contaminated buildings, mine sites, soil and groundwater. Asbestos abatement, lead paint abatement, hazardous waste site cleanup and underground storage tank removal all sit here.

Water damage restoration and fire restoration of buildings do not. That work is distributed across several codes depending on what the establishment primarily does. Reconstruction after a loss falls under residential and nonresidential building construction, NAICS 236, and under specialty trade contractors, NAICS 238990. Cleanup and drying services fall under other services to buildings and dwellings, NAICS 561790, and carpet and upholstery cleaning, NAICS 561720.

Where restoration work actually sits in NAICSWHERE RESTORATION WORK ACTUALLY SITS IN NAICSType of workNAICS code where it sitsIn this report?Asbestos and lead abatement562910 Remediation ServicesYesContaminated soil and groundwater562910 Remediation ServicesYesMould remediation562910 or 561790, by primary activPartlyWater damage drying and cleanup561790 Other services to buildingsNoCarpet and upholstery cleaning561720 Carpet and upholstery cleanNoPost-loss reconstruction236 Construction of buildingsNoSpecialty repair after a loss238990 Other specialty tradeNo
Scope mapping of restoration activities against NAICS industry codes, per the US Census Bureau NAICS 2022 definitions. Only the first two rows are fully inside the 562910 counts used in this report.

The consequence is direct. Per BLS QCEW, the 9,387 establishments counted here in 2026Q1 are an environmental remediation sector, which overlaps the restoration trade at the contaminated end and misses it entirely at the water and fire end. Presenting this as the restoration industry would be wrong, which is why we are not doing it.

What the figures are good for is the abatement and environmental side of the market: how many firms operate, how large they are, where they cluster, and whether their number is rising or falling. Those questions have real answers in this file. For mould work specifically, our mold licensee density report counts licence holders on the Texas, Florida and New York registers.

Establishments and employment, every state

Rank State Establishments Employment Avg weekly wage Location quotient Establishments per 100k residents Employees per establishment
1 California 758 12,331 $1,748 0.50 1.92 16.3
2 Florida 734 4,748 $1,554 1.09 3.14 6.5
3 Texas 649 8,228 $1,598 0.99 2.07 12.7
4 New York 492 6,605 $1,643 0.92 2.48 13.4
5 Pennsylvania 350 3,725 $1,969 1.17 2.68 10.6
6 Colorado 314 2,560 $1,790 1.57 5.27 8.2
7 Massachusetts 297 3,084 $1,822 1.32 4.16 10.4
8 New Jersey 296 2,835 $1,621 1.14 3.12 9.6
9 North Carolina 296 1,935 $1,478 1.04 2.68 6.5
10 Washington 295 6,211 $2,097 1.62 3.71 21.1
11 Ohio 293 4,249 $1,569 1.12 2.47 14.5
12 Tennessee 255 2,178 $1,534 1.48 3.53 8.5
13 Louisiana 242 3,100 $1,443 2.01 5.26 12.8
14 Georgia 241 1,741 $1,399 0.80 2.16 7.2
15 Michigan 241 2,013 $1,474 1.02 2.38 8.4
16 Illinois 215 1,621 $1,566 0.73 1.69 7.5
17 Missouri 212 1,933 $1,406 1.06 3.39 9.1
18 Virginia 205 2,174 $1,388 0.83 2.33 10.6
19 Indiana 183 1,919 $1,369 1.22 2.64 10.5
20 South Carolina 179 962 $1,415 1.23 3.27 5.4
21 Connecticut 169 1,642 $1,588 1.49 4.60 9.7
22 Minnesota 147 1,167 $1,555 0.91 2.54 7.9
23 Arizona 146 1,043 $1,494 0.85 1.93 7.1
24 Maryland 145 2,499 $1,370 0.95 2.32 17.2
25 Wisconsin 139 1,210 $1,353 0.88 2.33 8.7
26 Kentucky 134 1,047 $1,529 1.09 2.92 7.8
27 Alabama 133 1,131 $1,338 1.04 2.58 8.5
28 Oregon 124 1,462 $1,417 0.95 2.90 11.8
29 Nevada 114 897 $1,308 1.34 3.49 7.9
30 Mississippi 108 726 $1,584 1.53 3.67 6.7
31 New Mexico 107 1,466 $1,693 2.11 5.02 13.7
32 Idaho 96 706 $1,570 1.26 4.80 7.4
33 Arkansas 92 615 $1,150 1.11 2.98 6.7
34 Utah 90 748 $1,361 0.85 2.57 8.3
35 Oklahoma 86 911 $1,350 0.87 2.10 10.6
36 Alaska 74 688 $2,441 3.85 10.00 9.3
37 West Virginia 71 356 $1,334 1.49 4.01 5.0
38 Kansas 70 657 $1,290 0.91 2.36 9.4
39 New Hampshire 61 390 $1,688 1.22 4.33 6.4
40 Hawaii 58 520 $1,791 1.19 4.01 9.0
41 Delaware 55 284 $1,508 1.54 5.23 5.2
42 Montana 55 390 $1,853 1.15 4.84 7.1
43 Iowa 54 476 $1,182 0.64 1.67 8.8
44 Nebraska 53 293 $1,216 0.89 2.64 5.5
45 Rhode Island 52 249 $1,573 1.40 4.67 4.8
46 Maine 49 408 $1,357 0.96 3.49 8.3
47 Vermont 37 Suppressed Suppressed 1.47 5.71 Suppressed
48 North Dakota 34 165 $1,708 1.22 4.27 4.9
49 Wyoming 27 Suppressed Suppressed 1.12 4.59 Suppressed
50 Puerto Rico 22 429 $642 0.55 0.69 19.5
51 District of Columbia 19 Suppressed Suppressed 0.49 2.71 Suppressed
52 South Dakota 19 Suppressed Suppressed 0.61 2.05 Suppressed
NAICS 562910 Remediation Services, private ownership, state level (QCEW aggregation level 58), quarter 2026Q1. The location quotient compares the state’s share of establishments in this industry against its share of all establishments, so a value above 1.00 means over-representation. Employment and wage figures are suppressed by BLS for DC, SD, VT, WY. Source: BLS QCEW, retrieved 2 October 2026.
Top 12 states by remediation establishmentsTOP 12 STATES BY REMEDIATION ESTABLISHMENTSCalifornia758Florida734Texas649New York492Pennsylvania350Colorado314Massachusetts297New Jersey296North Carolina296Washington295Ohio293Tennessee255
Private establishments in NAICS 562910, 2026Q1. National total computed from the state rows: 9,387. Source: BLS QCEW, retrieved 2 October 2026.

Establishment density per 100,000 residents

Absolute counts follow population. Dividing by residents shows where remediation capacity is genuinely thick on the ground, which is the figure that matters if you are deciding whether a market is already served. The national rate computed from the QCEW 2026Q1 file and US Census Bureau 2025 population is 2.73 establishments per 100,000 residents.

Rank State Establishments per 100k residents Establishments Location quotient
1 Alaska 10.00 74 3.85
2 Vermont 5.71 37 1.47
3 Colorado 5.27 314 1.57
4 Louisiana 5.26 242 2.01
5 Delaware 5.23 55 1.54
6 New Mexico 5.02 107 2.11
7 Montana 4.84 55 1.15
8 Idaho 4.80 96 1.26
9 Rhode Island 4.67 52 1.40
10 Connecticut 4.60 169 1.49
11 Wyoming 4.59 27 1.12
12 New Hampshire 4.33 61 1.22
13 North Dakota 4.27 34 1.22
14 Massachusetts 4.16 297 1.32
15 West Virginia 4.01 71 1.49
16 Hawaii 4.01 58 1.19
17 Washington 3.71 295 1.62
18 Mississippi 3.67 108 1.53
19 Tennessee 3.53 255 1.48
20 Nevada 3.49 114 1.34
The twenty densest jurisdictions by NAICS 562910 private establishments per 100,000 residents, 2026Q1. Establishment counts from BLS QCEW, population from US Census Bureau Vintage 2025 state estimates. Retrieved 2 October 2026.

The fragmentation score

The fragmentation score used here is simply employment divided by establishments: the average number of employees per firm location. A low score means a market of small independent operators. A high score means fewer, larger firms. The national figure from the QCEW 2026Q1 file is 10.3 employees per establishment, and the median state is 8.5.

State Employees per establishment Establishments Employment Reading
Washington 21.1 295 6,211 Consolidated
Puerto Rico 19.5 22 429 Consolidated
Maryland 17.2 145 2,499 Consolidated
California 16.3 758 12,331 Consolidated
Ohio 14.5 293 4,249 Consolidated
New Mexico 13.7 107 1,466 Consolidated
New York 13.4 492 6,605 Consolidated
Louisiana 12.8 242 3,100 Consolidated
Texas 12.7 649 8,228 Consolidated
Oregon 11.8 124 1,462 Consolidated
The ten most consolidated jurisdictions by average employees per establishment, NAICS 562910 private ownership, 2026Q1. Source: BLS QCEW, retrieved 2 October 2026.
State Employees per establishment Establishments Employment Reading
Arkansas 6.7 92 615 Fragmented
North Carolina 6.5 296 1,935 Fragmented
Florida 6.5 734 4,748 Fragmented
New Hampshire 6.4 61 390 Fragmented
Nebraska 5.5 53 293 Fragmented
South Carolina 5.4 179 962 Fragmented
Delaware 5.2 55 284 Fragmented
West Virginia 5.0 71 356 Fragmented
North Dakota 4.9 34 165 Fragmented
Rhode Island 4.8 52 249 Fragmented
The ten most fragmented jurisdictions by average employees per establishment, NAICS 562910 private ownership, 2026Q1. Source: BLS QCEW, retrieved 2 October 2026.

The practical difference for someone entering a market is about who they will be bidding against. In Rhode Island, at 4.8 employees per establishment in 2026Q1, the competition is mostly owner-operators and very small crews, so a new entrant with two trucks is a normal competitor rather than an outsider. Our restoration job size distribution shows how much of the recorded disaster damage is small-dollar work.

In Washington, at 21.1 employees per establishment, the same work is held by firms with real overhead, standing contracts and the capacity to staff a large loss. A small entrant there is more likely to subcontract to those firms than to compete with them for the primary contract.

Multi-year change in establishment counts

The QCEW file carries earlier quarters, so the direction of travel is computable rather than asserted. Comparing 2022Q4 with 2026Q1, establishments in NAICS 562910 rose by 1,102 nationally, from 8,285 to 9,387, which is +13.3% per BLS QCEW.

Quarter Jurisdictions reporting Establishments Employment
2022Q4 52 8,285 93,925
2023Q4 52 8,779 98,392
2024Q4 52 9,086 98,552
2025Q4 52 9,344 98,854
2026Q1 52 9,387 96,727
National totals for NAICS 562910 private establishments, summed from the state rows in each quarterly BLS QCEW file retrieved. Employment totals exclude suppressed jurisdictions, so they are a floor rather than a complete count. Retrieved 2 October 2026.
State Establishments 2022Q4 Establishments 2026Q1 Change Change %
California 607 758 +151 +24.9%
Texas 518 649 +131 +25.3%
Florida 645 734 +89 +13.8%
Tennessee 189 255 +66 +34.9%
Michigan 186 241 +55 +29.6%
Colorado 263 314 +51 +19.4%
Georgia 201 241 +40 +19.9%
Minnesota 108 147 +39 +36.1%
North Carolina 258 296 +38 +14.7%
Ohio 257 293 +36 +14.0%
The ten largest absolute gains in NAICS 562910 private establishments between 2022Q4 and 2026Q1. Source: BLS QCEW, retrieved 2 October 2026.
State Establishments 2022Q4 Establishments 2026Q1 Change Change %
Alaska 72 74 +2 +2.8%
Puerto Rico 20 22 +2 +10.0%
North Dakota 33 34 +1 +3.0%
Iowa 55 54 -1 -1.8%
Maryland 146 145 -1 -0.7%
Montana 60 55 -5 -8.3%
District of Columbia 25 19 -6 -24.0%
Wyoming 34 27 -7 -20.6%
Virginia 216 205 -11 -5.1%
New Jersey 319 296 -23 -7.2%
The ten largest absolute declines in NAICS 562910 private establishments between 2022Q4 and 2026Q1. Source: BLS QCEW, retrieved 2 October 2026.

On a percentage basis the ranking shifts, because small states move a long way on a few firms. Nevada grew +39.0% between 2022Q4 and 2026Q1 on a gain of +32 establishments, while District of Columbia fell -24.0% on a change of -6, per BLS QCEW. Treat percentage moves in small jurisdictions as noise unless the absolute change is also material.

Average weekly wage by state

QCEW reports an average weekly wage per establishment payroll, which is a different measurement from the occupational wage series. It covers everyone on the payroll, including office and management staff, so it is an establishment cost figure rather than a technician’s pay. The highest in 2026Q1 is Alaska at $2,441 per week per BLS QCEW.

State Average weekly wage Implied annual Employees per establishment
Alaska $2,441 $126,932 9.3
Washington $2,097 $109,044 21.1
Pennsylvania $1,969 $102,388 10.6
Montana $1,853 $96,356 7.1
Massachusetts $1,822 $94,744 10.4
Hawaii $1,791 $93,132 9.0
Colorado $1,790 $93,080 8.2
California $1,748 $90,896 16.3
North Dakota $1,708 $88,816 4.9
New Mexico $1,693 $88,036 13.7
New Hampshire $1,688 $87,776 6.4
New York $1,643 $85,436 13.4
The twelve highest average weekly wages in NAICS 562910 private establishments, 2026Q1. The implied annual column is the weekly figure multiplied by 52 and assumes full-year employment, which QCEW does not guarantee. Source: BLS QCEW, retrieved 2 October 2026.

For a wage series built around the occupation rather than the establishment, see our restoration wage report, which uses BLS occupational data for hazardous materials removal workers.

Why published market-size figures disagree

Market-size estimates for restoration vary by a wide margin between publishers, and the scope problem described above is the main reason. A report that counts only NAICS 562910 produces a small number. One that adds NAICS 561790 and 561720 produces a larger one. One that includes post-loss reconstruction under NAICS 236 and 238990 produces a far larger one again, because reconstruction revenue dwarfs the mitigation phase.

None of those choices is wrong in itself. The problem is that the scope is rarely stated, so two figures that look comparable are counting different industries. The first question to ask of any restoration market figure is which NAICS codes it includes, and the second is whether it counts mitigation revenue only or reconstruction as well.

That is why this report publishes a count for one code and labels it precisely: 9,387 private establishments in NAICS 562910 in 2026Q1, per BLS QCEW, which is environmental remediation and not the restoration industry.

Method

How we counted. We retrieved the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages industry files for NAICS 562910 for five quarters, 2022Q4 through 2026Q1, on 2 October 2026. We kept rows at aggregation level 58, which is state by NAICS industry, and ownership code 5, private. Public-sector rows are excluded because they are a handful of state agencies that distort the per-firm figures. That leaves 52 jurisdictions in 2026Q1. Establishment counts are the quarterly establishment count, employment is the third-month employment level, and the wage is the reported average weekly wage. Establishments per 100,000 residents uses US Census Bureau Vintage 2025 state population estimates. The fragmentation score is employment divided by establishments. The multi-year change compares the 2026Q1 establishment count against 2022Q4 for the 52 jurisdictions present in both files. BLS suppresses employment and wage figures for DC, SD, VT, WY, which are excluded from the fragmentation and wage rankings.

Reproduce this

Reproduce this

Endpoint
https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/{year}/{qtr}/industry/562910.csv
Query
agglvl_code 58 = state by NAICS industry, own_code 5 = private ownership, periods 2022q4 2023q4 2024q4 2025q4 2026q1
Rows retrieved
1,430 rows in the 2026Q1 file, 52 of them state-level private
Retrieved
2 October 2026

Aggregation level 58 is state by NAICS industry and ownership code 5 is private ownership. No API key is required for the CSV endpoint. Substitute the year and quarter in the path, for example 2026/1, and note that the most recent quarter is preliminary and gets revised.

What this does not show

What this does not show

  • This is not the restoration industry. NAICS 562910 is environmental remediation. Water damage and fire restoration of buildings sit in construction codes 236 and 238990 and in services codes 561790 and 561720, none of which are counted here. Any use of these figures as a restoration industry count is a misuse.
  • QCEW counts establishments, not firms. A company with branches in four states appears four times or more. The counts describe physical locations with payroll, so they overstate the number of distinct businesses.
  • Establishments are classified by primary activity. A firm that does both abatement and water damage work is coded once, to whichever activity dominates its revenue. Mixed firms are therefore invisible as mixed.
  • Only payrolled employment is covered. QCEW is built from unemployment insurance filings, so sole proprietors without employees and most independent contractors are absent. In a sector of small operators that is a significant gap.
  • Suppression removes data. BLS withholds employment and wage figures where publishing them would disclose an individual employer, which affects DC, SD, VT, WY in 2026Q1.
  • The latest quarter is preliminary. QCEW revises recent quarters, so the newest figures will change slightly in later releases.
  • Establishment growth is not revenue growth. More locations can mean a growing market or the same market split into smaller units.

Most quotable figures

  1. BLS QCEW counts 9,387 private establishments and 96,727 employees in NAICS 562910 Remediation Services across 52 US jurisdictions in 2026Q1.
  2. NAICS 562910 is environmental remediation, not building restoration: water damage and fire restoration are distributed across NAICS 236, 238990, 561790 and 561720, which is why published restoration market-size figures disagree so widely (US Census Bureau NAICS definitions).
  3. The sector averages 10.3 employees per establishment nationally, with a median state of 8.5, making it a market of small firms (computed from BLS QCEW, 2026Q1).
  4. Establishments in NAICS 562910 rose +13.3% between 2022Q4 and 2026Q1, with 45 of 52 jurisdictions gaining and 7 losing (computed from BLS QCEW).

Related reading

Questions this report answers

How many remediation companies are there in the United States?

BLS QCEW records 9,387 private establishments in NAICS 562910 Remediation Services in 2026Q1. That counts locations rather than companies, and it covers environmental remediation rather than water damage restoration.

Does NAICS 562910 include water damage restoration?

No. NAICS 562910 covers remediation of contaminated buildings, mine sites, soil and groundwater, including asbestos and lead abatement. Water damage drying and cleanup is classified under NAICS 561790, carpet cleaning under 561720, and post-loss reconstruction under NAICS 236 and 238990.

Is there an official count of the restoration industry?

Not as a single number. No NAICS code isolates fire and water damage restoration, so any industry total is assembled from parts of several codes. The choice of which parts to include is the main reason published market-size figures vary so much.

Which state has the most remediation establishments?

California, with 758 private establishments in NAICS 562910 in 2026Q1 per BLS QCEW, which is 8.1% of the national count.

Is the remediation market fragmented or consolidated?

Fragmented. The national average computed from the BLS QCEW 2026Q1 file is 10.3 employees per establishment, and the median state is 8.5. Rhode Island is the most fragmented at 4.8 and Washington the most consolidated at 21.1.

Is the number of remediation firms growing?

Yes, modestly. Establishments rose +13.3% between 2022Q4 and 2026Q1 per BLS QCEW, from 8,285 to 9,387. 45 jurisdictions gained and 7 lost.

Can I reuse these tables?

Yes. The tables and derived figures are released under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to Remediation Insider. The underlying QCEW data is public and published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

How to cite

Remediation Insider. The Remediation Establishment Census: Firms and Employment by State. https://remediationinsider.com/remediation-establishment-census/ (retrieved 2 October 2026).

Data and tables in this report are released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Remediation Insider.

Sources

  1. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. NAICS 562910 industry files, quarters 2022Q4 through 2026Q1, aggregation level 58, ownership code 5. Retrieved 2 October 2026.
  2. US Census Bureau NAICS 562910 definition, 2022 NAICS definition of Remediation Services, used to establish the scope of the code and what it excludes.
  3. BLS QCEW questions and answers, on establishment counts and disclosure suppression.
  4. US Census Bureau. Vintage 2025 state resident population estimates, used only to compute establishments per 100,000 residents.
  5. No survey, interview or site visit was conducted for this report. We retrieved the public QCEW files and computed every derived figure from them.