Statistics
Accounting industry statistics 2026
The United States has about 1.6 million accountant and auditor jobs, 650,667 licensed CPAs, 886,338 people with a current preparer tax ID and 137,069 accounting establishments, 70% of which employ fewer than five people. The median accountant earned $83,680 in 2025, paid preparers e-filed 86.7 million individual returns, and the hundred largest firms billed $140.79 billion.
Every figure below links to the document it came from and gives the date that document states. Government counts come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau and the IRS; industry figures from the AICPA, NASBA, the firms' own reports and the trade surveys that publish their method. Where two sources count the same thing differently, both appear with their definitions. Our own numbers, from reading every firm website in the directory, are marked as original data. The pipeline figures are summarized here; the full picture is on the accountant shortage statistics page.
54 figures · 6 charts · 16 sources · checked October 10, 2026
Key figures
1.6 million
Accountants and auditors held 1,595,200 jobs in the United States in 2025, including the self-employed.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025
$83,680
The median annual wage for accountants and auditors was $83,680 in May 2025, or $40.23 an hour.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025
−6%
Bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks held 1,532,400 jobs in 2025, a number projected to fall 6% (85,600 jobs) by 2035 as software takes over the routine entries.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 to 2035 projections
886,338
886,338 people held a current preparer tax identification number for 2026, the credential anyone must have to prepare a federal return for pay.
IRS, September 1, 2026
650,667
There were 650,667 actively licensed CPAs as of August 27, 2026, aggregated from 53 of the 55 licensing jurisdictions; a May 2025 NASBA release put the figure at approximately 672,000 on a different basis.
NASBA, August 27, 2026
137,069
There were 137,069 employer establishments in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services in 2023, employing 1,297,995 people with an annual payroll of $99.78 billion.
US Census Bureau, 2023
Size of the profession
The government counts accountants three ways and none of them is a count of CPAs. The table shows what each measures.
Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook and OEWS (bls.gov), May 2025
Source: IRS, Return preparer statistics (irs.gov), September 1, 2026. Credentials overlap, so the bars do not sum to the total, and the IRS publishes no 'no credential' line.
| Count | Figure | What it measures | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| BLS employer survey (OEWS) | 1,449,500 | Wage-and-salary accountant and auditor jobs, excluding the self-employed | May 2025 |
| BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook | 1,595,200 | All accountant and auditor jobs including the self-employed | 2025 |
| BLS household survey (CPS) | 1,766,000 | People whose main job is accountant or auditor | 2025 average |
| NASBA licensee database | 650,667 | Active CPA licenses, 53 of 55 jurisdictions | August 27, 2026 |
Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, BLS OEWS and CPS, NASBA (bls.gov), 2025 to 2026
1.6 million
Accountants and auditors held 1,595,200 jobs in the United States in 2025, including the self-employed.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accountants and Auditors (bls.gov), 2025Link
$83,680
The median annual wage for accountants and auditors was $83,680 in May 2025, or $40.23 an hour.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accountants and Auditors (bls.gov), May 2025Link
$144,090
The lowest-paid 10% of accountants and auditors earned less than $56,020 and the highest-paid 10% more than $144,090 in May 2025.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, pay tab (bls.gov), May 2025Link
$81,490
Accountants working in accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll firms had a median wage of $81,490, against $93,290 for those in finance and insurance.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, pay tab (bls.gov), May 2025Link
+5%
Employment of accountants and auditors is projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, adding 79,400 jobs, with about 115,300 openings a year, most of them replacements.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accountants and Auditors (bls.gov), 2025 to 2035 projectionsLink
−6%
Bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks held 1,532,400 jobs in 2025, a number projected to fall 6% (85,600 jobs) by 2035 as software takes over the routine entries.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (bls.gov), 2025 to 2035 projectionsLink
$50,670
The median bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerk earned $50,670 a year ($24.36 an hour) in May 2025, and about 144,100 clerk openings are still projected each year despite the decline.
BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (bls.gov), May 2025Link
76,480
The BLS counts only 76,480 wage-and-salary tax preparers (its own occupation code), with a median wage of $54,920; most people who prepare returns for pay are counted elsewhere.
BLS Public Data API, OEWS series for occupation 13-2082 (api.bls.gov), May 2025Link
886,338
886,338 people held a current preparer tax identification number for 2026, the credential anyone must have to prepare a federal return for pay.
IRS, Return preparer statistics (irs.gov), September 1, 2026Link
209,076
209,076 PTIN holders are CPAs, 71,966 are enrolled agents and 26,256 are attorneys; a further 72,049 hold a 2026 Annual Filing Season Program record of completion.
IRS, Return preparer statistics (irs.gov), September 1, 2026Link
650,667
There were 650,667 actively licensed CPAs as of August 27, 2026, aggregated from 53 of the 55 licensing jurisdictions; a May 2025 NASBA release put the figure at approximately 672,000 on a different basis.
NASBA, How many CPAs are there? (nasba.org), August 27, 2026Link
597,000
AICPA & CIMA report 597,000 members, candidates and registrants in 188 countries, a combined global membership figure rather than a count of US CPAs.
AICPA & CIMA, membership overview (aicpa-cima.com), undated, read October 2026Link
Firms
The industry is a few giants and a very long tail. The Census counts establishments (offices), so a multi-office firm appears once per office.
Source: US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (www2.census.gov), 2023
Source: Accounting Today, 2026 Top 100 Firms (arizent.brightspotcdn.com), fiscal years ending June 2025 (KPMG September 2025)
137,069
There were 137,069 employer establishments in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services in 2023, employing 1,297,995 people with an annual payroll of $99.78 billion.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (www2.census.gov), 2023Link
55,052
Offices of certified public accountants numbered 55,052 establishments employing 604,209 people in 2023, with a payroll of $60.84 billion; 35,650 of them had fewer than five employees.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (www2.census.gov), 2023Link
47,699
Other accounting services, the Census category that holds bookkeeping firms, had 47,699 establishments and 250,400 employees in 2023; tax preparation services had 28,762 and 133,868, and payroll services 5,556 and 309,518.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (www2.census.gov), 2023, mid-March employmentLink
396,812
A further 396,812 accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll businesses had no paid employees at all in 2023, mostly sole proprietors, with combined receipts of $13.70 billion.
US Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2023 (www2.census.gov), 2023Link
254,312
254,312 of those solo businesses were in other accounting services including bookkeeping, 102,543 in tax preparation and 33,853 were one-person CPA offices.
US Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2023 (www2.census.gov), 2023Link
$140.79B
The 2026 Accounting Today Top 100 firms had combined US revenue of $140.79 billion, up 8.58%, and 556,378 employees.
Accounting Today, 2026 Top 100 Firms (arizent.brightspotcdn.com), fiscal years ending in 2025, published March 2026Link
15 firms
Fifteen billion-dollar firms accounted for $122.24 billion of the Top 100's $140.79 billion, leaving the other 85 firms to share $18.55 billion.
Accounting Today, 2026 Top 100 Firms (arizent.brightspotcdn.com), 2026 reportLink
41%
Across the Top 100, consulting and advisory produced 41% of revenue, audit and attest 28% and tax 24%.
Accounting Today, 2026 Top 100 Firms (arizent.brightspotcdn.com), 2026 reportLink
$35.7B
Deloitte's US revenue was $35,687 million, PwC's $24,983 million, EY's $22,272 million and KPMG's $13,280 million, with US headcounts of 181,587, 88,890, 53,650 and 48,064.
Accounting Today, 2026 Top 100 Firms (arizent.brightspotcdn.com), fiscal years ending June 2025 (KPMG September 2025)Link
$74.5B
Deloitte reported global revenue of US$74.5 billion for the year to May 31, 2026, up 3.8% in local currency, with nearly 500,000 people worldwide.
Deloitte Global, revenue announcement (deloitte.com), fiscal year ended May 31, 2026Link
$57B
EY reported combined global revenue of US$57 billion for the year to June 2026, up 4.7% in local currency, of which the Americas contributed US$25.9 billion.
EY Global, fiscal 2026 revenue release (ey.com), fiscal year ended June 2026Link
$39.8B
KPMG reported global revenue of US$39.8 billion for the year to September 30, 2025, up 5.1% in local currency, with 276,030 partners and staff.
KPMG, global revenue release (kpmg.com), fiscal year ended September 30, 2025Link
PwC's fiscal 2025 global figure could not be read at pwc.com, which blocks automated access, so it is not quoted here.
The pipeline
Fewer graduates, far fewer exam candidates, and a licensing rule now changing state by state.
Source: AICPA, 2025 Trends report release (aicpa-cima.com), October 27, 2025. The redesigned CPA Exam launched in January 2024.
55,152
55,152 students earned a bachelor's or master's in accounting in 2023-24, down 6.6%, after falls of 9.6% and 7.4% in the two previous years.
AICPA, 2025 Trends report release (aicpa-cima.com), 2023-24 academic year, provisionalLink
28,082
New CPA Exam candidates peaked at 42,626 in 2023, the most since 2016, then fell to 28,082 in 2024 and 16,448 in the first half of 2025.
AICPA, 2025 Trends report release (aicpa-cima.com), 2023 to mid-2025Link
42.12%
The 2025 cumulative CPA Exam pass rate was 42.12% for FAR, 48.21% for AUD and 63.12% for REG; a section is passed at a score of 75.
AICPA & CIMA, CPA Exam scoring and pass rates (aicpa-cima.com), calendar 2025, cumulativeLink
11,985
Public accounting firms responding to the AICPA's survey hired 11,985 new graduates in 2024, 75% of them accounting majors, and three in four expected to hire as many or more in 2025.
AICPA, 2025 Trends report release (aicpa-cima.com), 2024, responding firms onlyLink
Half of states
By November 2025 half of US states had adopted a CPA licensure pathway of a bachelor's degree plus two years' experience, with 22 more planning legislation in 2026; 14 states had enacted it when the model law changed in May 2025.
AICPA Advocacy, State policy trends shaping accounting in 2026 (aicpa-cima.com), November 26, 2025Link
What firms charge and pay
The only free fee surveys are small member surveys, and they publish ranges rather than averages. Both are named here with their sample sizes.
$300–$600
The National Society of Accountants' 2024 survey of 183 practitioners, mostly firms with fewer than three partners, put the average fee for an itemized Form 1040 at $300 to $600 and a Form 1120 corporate return at $750 to $1,250.
National Society of Accountants, 2024 Profit and Practice Report summary (nsacct.org), 2024 surveyLink
61%
61% of the surveyed firms raise their tax preparation fees every year, and 67% charge extra for disorganized or incomplete files, averaging $100 to $200.
National Society of Accountants, 2024 Profit and Practice Report summary (nsacct.org), 2024 surveyLink
$60/hr
Median hourly rates in the same survey were $60 for principals, $53 for bookkeepers and $45 for support staff; 37% of firms bill fixed fees and 24% a mix of fixed and hourly.
National Society of Accountants, 2024 Profit and Practice Report summary (nsacct.org), 2024 surveyLink
83%
83% of the surveyed firms rely on word-of-mouth referrals for marketing; 47% use a website but only 7% rate it very useful.
National Society of Accountants, 2024 Profit and Practice Report summary (nsacct.org), 2024 surveyLink
$182/hr
Among the 7% of National Association of Tax Professionals members who bill by the hour, the average rate was $182 in 2025, up from $179 in 2023, with half charging between $129 and $250.
National Association of Tax Professionals, 2025 Fee Study highlights (dam.natptax.com), November 2025Link
65%
Tax form preparation makes up 65% of those preparers' gross revenue and bookkeeping 12%; 87% of their clients are returning clients.
National Association of Tax Professionals, 2025 Fee Study highlights (dam.natptax.com), November 2025Link
$76,500
Robert Half's 2027 salary guide puts a staff accountant at $67,000 to $89,500 (midpoint $76,500) and a senior accountant at $81,500 to $111,250 (midpoint $96,750); the tiers are experience levels, not percentiles.
Robert Half, 2027 Salary Guide, staff accountant (roberthalf.com), 2027 projectionsLink
Who files the returns
Source: IRS Data Book 2025, Table 1-4 (irs.gov), fiscal year 2025
86.7 million
Paid preparers e-filed 86.7 million of the 162.8 million individual income tax returns the IRS received in fiscal 2025, more than the 65.8 million people filed themselves with software.
IRS Data Book 2025 (irs.gov), fiscal year 2025Link
3.2 million
Only 3.2 million returns went through IRS Free File and 309,000 through Direct File in fiscal 2025, against 86.7 million from paid preparers.
IRS Data Book 2025 (irs.gov), fiscal year 2025Link
56.5%
In the 2025 filing season through October 17, tax professionals e-filed 86,758,000 returns and taxpayers self-prepared 66,839,000, so professionals accounted for 56.5% of e-filed returns, and their volume grew faster (2.3% against 1.2%).
IRS, filing season statistics for the week ending October 17, 2025 (irs.gov), cumulative through October 17, 2025Link
Software and technology
$5.05B
Intuit's QuickBooks Online Accounting revenue was $5,051 million in fiscal 2026, up 23%, while QuickBooks Desktop Accounting brought in $1,801 million, up 8% on higher prices.
Intuit, Form 10-K for fiscal 2026 (sec.gov), fiscal year ended July 31, 2026Link
+3%
Intuit's online paying customers grew only 3% in fiscal 2026 while average revenue per customer rose 15%, which is how Online Ecosystem revenue grew 19% to $9,918 million.
Intuit, Form 10-K for fiscal 2026 (sec.gov), fiscal year ended July 31, 2026Link
60%
The QuickBooks business (Intuit's Global Business Solutions segment) generated $12,864 million, 60% of Intuit's $21,448 million revenue; Intuit does not disclose a QuickBooks subscriber count.
Intuit, Form 10-K for fiscal 2026 (sec.gov), fiscal year ended July 31, 2026Link
76%
In the National Society of Accountants' 2024 survey of 183 small firms, 76% used a secure client portal, 51% were predominantly paperless, 65% carried cyber liability insurance and 38% used cloud-hosted client applications such as QuickBooks.
National Society of Accountants, 2024 Profit and Practice Report summary (nsacct.org), 2024 surveyLink
No. 1
In the AICPA's 2026 survey of 629 CPAs, managing change from technology and AI ranked as the top five-year issue in every firm-size group; the top current issue was tax law complexity for firms of up to 10 people and hiring for firms of 11 to 30.
AICPA, 2026 PCPS CPA Firm Top Issues Survey release (aicpa-cima.com), surveyed April 20 to May 22, 2026Link
95%
95% of 700 US accounting professionals in an Intuit-commissioned survey said automation tools were boosting their productivity, and 94% expected advisory work to raise firm revenue; treat it as a vendor survey.
Intuit QuickBooks, 2025 Accountant Technology Report (quickbooks.intuit.com), April 2025Link
What firm websites and the IRS file show
Original data from reading every firm website in our directory and matching every listing to the IRS preparer file.
6.4%
Of 3,917 US accounting and bookkeeping firm websites, 6.4% publish a price for their own services; among CPA-led firms the share is 3.4%.
CPA Advisor original dataCPA Advisor, What 3,917 accounting firm websites say (cpaadvisor.us), October 2026Link
43%
43% of those firm websites name QuickBooks and 11.5% say the firm is a ProAdvisor; Xero appears on 4.1%.
CPA Advisor original dataCPA Advisor, What 3,917 accounting firm websites say (cpaadvisor.us), October 2026Link
24.5%
24.5% of firm websites mention a client portal or secure document upload, 27.6% offer a free consultation, and 32.4% advertise IRS representation or tax-problem services.
CPA Advisor original dataCPA Advisor, What 3,917 accounting firm websites say (cpaadvisor.us), October 2026Link
18.7%
18.7% of 4,201 accounting firms' Google Business Profiles have no reviews and 42.2% have fewer than five; the median firm has 7.
CPA Advisor original dataCPA Advisor, What 3,917 accounting firm websites say (cpaadvisor.us), October 2026Link
18.1%
Of 2,711 accounting and tax firms matched to the IRS preparer file, 18.1% had no preparer listing any credential; 44% had a CPA, 30% an enrolled agent and 28% an Annual Filing Season Program participant.
CPA Advisor original dataCPA Advisor, Tax preparer credentials census (cpaadvisor.us), September 2026Link
Common questions
How many accountants are there in the United States?
It depends on the count. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts accountant and auditor jobs at 1,595,200 in 2025 including the self-employed, or 1,449,500 wage-and-salary jobs in its employer survey. Those are occupation counts, not CPAs: NASBA counted 650,667 active CPA licenses in August 2026, and the IRS counted 886,338 people with a current preparer tax ID, of whom 209,076 are CPAs.
How many accounting firms are there in the US?
The Census counted 137,069 employer establishments in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services in 2023, of which 55,052 were offices of CPAs, plus 396,812 businesses with no employees at all. Establishments are offices, so a firm with ten offices counts ten times, and the two Census programs should not be added together.
What does an accountant earn?
The median accountant and auditor earned $83,680 in May 2025 according to the BLS, with the bottom 10% under $56,020 and the top 10% over $144,090. Accountants inside accounting firms earned a lower median, $81,490, than those in finance and insurance at $93,290. Bookkeeping clerks, a separate occupation, had a median of $50,670.
How much does a tax return cost to have prepared?
The only free survey, from the National Society of Accountants, gives ranges: $300 to $600 for an itemized Form 1040 and $750 to $1,250 for a corporate Form 1120 in its 2024 survey of 183 small firms. The IRS separately estimates the average filer spends $290 out of pocket and 12 hours on a Form 1040, across all methods.
Is the accounting profession growing or shrinking?
Accountant and auditor jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, but the people entering the profession are fewer: accounting graduates fell to 55,152 in 2023-24 and new CPA Exam candidates to 28,082 in 2024. Bookkeeping clerk jobs are projected to fall 6% over the same decade.
More statistics
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