What is The Top 10% Test?
The Top 10% Test is a free business comparison. It estimates where your yearly sales fall among full-year U.S. employer firms in the same Census business group.
What businesses are compared?
The test compares firms that operated for the full year and had payroll. A business with no paid employees does not receive an employer-business ranking.
What does “businesses like yours” mean?
It means businesses in the same six-digit Census industry group. The plumbing and HVAC choice uses the combined official group called Plumbing, Heating and Air-Conditioning Contractors.
Where do the numbers come from?
The benchmark comes from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2022 Economic Census, Establishment and Firm Size Statistics, table EC2200SIZEREVFIRM. The main rank uses firms, not establishments.
Why is the result a range?
The Census publishes sales groups, not every firm's sales. The test counts valid firms above, inside and below your group. It does not guess where you sit inside a group.
Why are different years adjusted?
You enter complete 2025 figures, but the detailed Census groups are from 2022. We adjust the years using the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis GDP implicit price deflator so the dollar figures can be fairly compared.
What does sales per worker mean?
Sales per worker is yearly sales divided by paid employees. It shows how much sales each worker represents. It does not show profit.
What does payroll share mean?
Payroll share is yearly employee payroll divided by yearly sales. It shows how many cents from each $1 of sales goes to wages, salaries, commissions and bonuses.
What can the test not tell you?
The test cannot determine profit, business quality, financial health, cash-flow health, whether money is missing, whether payroll is right or wrong, or why a business differs from its peers.
Which industries are supported?
- Plumbing / HVAC
- Electrical Contractors
- Roofing Contractors
- Painting Contractors
- Landscaping Services
- Cleaning / Janitorial Services
- Pest Control Services
- Certified Public Accountants
- Computer Systems Design Services
- Management Consulting
Data and method
Data year: 2022 Economic Census. User figures: full-year 2025.
Method last reviewed: August 16, 2026.
Year adjustment: BEA NIPA Table 1.1.9 annual GDP deflator, 2022 value 118.023 and 2025 value 128.979.
Your sales, payroll and worker count are calculated in your browser and are not saved by this test. Your email is stored separately as a private lead record and is not sent to Umami.