An interest coverage ratio only means something next to the figures of similar businesses. This table shows, for each industry, the interest coverage ratio of the typical company and the range that the middle half of companies fall in. Every figure is calculated from the financial statements that US-listed companies file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, so you can check how it was measured.
To place your own figure, enter it in the interest coverage ratio calculator and choose your industry under the result.
Median interest coverage ratio for each industry
| Middle half 25th–75th percentile | Range chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All industries | 1.01 | −9.29 to 5.91 | 1,954 | |
| General merchandise and home retail | 13.32 | 6.27–26.57 | 16 | |
| Education | 5.02 | −9.44 to 36.13 | 18 | |
| Industrial machinery | 4.82 | −2.14 to 12.86 | 72 | |
| Apparel, textiles and footwear | 4.05 | 1.43–14.47 | 20 | |
| Motor vehicles and transport equipment | 3.14 | −13.08 to 10.48 | 41 | |
| Oil and gas production | 2.90 | 0.82–5.71 | 39 | |
| Paper, wood and furniture | 2.83 | −1.30 to 28.07 | 30 | |
| Transportation and logistics | 2.64 | 0.32–7.47 | 86 | |
| Utilities and waste services | 2.42 | 1.60–3.30 | 80 | |
| Fabricated metal products | 2.22 | −3.22 to 9.88 | 34 | |
| Food, beverage and tobacco | 2.21 | −7.95 to 8.92 | 49 | |
| Semiconductors and electronic components | 2.03 | −6.03 to 10.83 | 74 | |
| Wholesale distribution | 2.03 | −2.85 to 4.79 | 55 | |
| Restaurants | 1.77 | −5.80 to 8.16 | 28 | |
| Computers and hardware | 1.72 | −2.43 to 7.69 | 27 | |
| Scientific and measuring instruments | 1.66 | −35.21 to 9.57 | 36 | |
| Business services | 1.65 | −3.16 to 5.64 | 93 | |
| Aerospace and defense | 1.54 | −10.11 to 5.32 | 23 | |
| Real estate and REITs | 1.47 | 0.07–3.10 | 88 | |
| Hotels, entertainment and leisure | 1.45 | −0.10 to 3.85 | 51 | |
| Building materials and metals | 1.41 | −2.03 to 10.78 | 29 | |
| Construction | 1.31 | −19.49 to 6.07 | 31 | |
| Oil and gas services | 1.02 | −0.58 to 2.56 | 21 | |
| Online and specialty retail | 0.97 | −5.61 to 6.82 | 44 | |
| Other manufacturing | 0.46 | −1.71 to 16.92 | 23 | |
| Engineering, research and consulting | 0.24 | −30.88 to 4.87 | 33 | |
| Telecommunications and media distribution | 0.23 | −5.23 to 2.16 | 38 | |
| Chemicals and personal care | −0.69 | −6.80 to 5.61 | 57 | |
| Software and IT services | −0.69 | −19.91 to 8.10 | 187 | |
| Healthcare services | −1.78 | −12.71 to 4.15 | 38 | |
| Electrical and communications equipment | −3.12 | −12.58 to 4.09 | 61 | |
| Mining | −4.12 | −24.15 to 3.57 | 24 | |
| Medical devices and supplies | −5.56 | −28.44 to 4.13 | 95 | |
| Pharmaceuticals and biotech | −15.56 | −100.65 to −1.74 | 226 |
The median is the middle company. Half of the companies in each industry fall in the middle-half range. Industries with fewer than 15 companies are counted in "All industries" but not shown on their own. Download the table for every year as CSV (free to reuse with credit, CC BY 4.0).
Reading the table
- The median is the middle company: half the companies in the industry have a higher interest coverage ratio and half a lower one. It is less affected by a few unusual companies than an average would be.
- The middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile. A quarter of companies sit below it and a quarter above it.
- A figure outside the middle half is not wrong. It is a reason to ask why the business differs from most of its industry.
Interest coverage depends on how much a business borrows and how profitable it is. Companies with little debt can show very high coverage, and companies with operating losses show negative coverage. Industries with many young companies that are still losing money, drug developers among them, have medians below zero. Companies that report no interest expense are left out.
The guide to why financial ratios vary by industry explains these differences in more detail.
How the median has changed
| Year | Median | Middle half | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2.24 | −8.05 to 10.43 | 1,959 |
| 2022 | 2.04 | −11.23 to 9.57 | 2,011 |
| 2023 | 1.67 | −8.28 to 7.61 | 2,065 |
| 2024 | 1.17 | −10.65 to 6.19 | 2,000 |
| 2025 | 1.01 | −9.29 to 5.91 | 1,954 |
How the figures are measured
- Source: company filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, read through the SEC's free XBRL data API. SEC data is in the public domain.
- Figures: Interest expense (
us-gaap:InterestExpense, or elseus-gaap:InterestExpenseNonoperating, or elseus-gaap:InterestExpenseDebt, or elseus-gaap:InterestAndDebtExpense); Operating income (us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss), as each company tagged them in its filing. - Calculation: the interest coverage ratio is calculated for each company with the same formula as the calculator on this site, then the companies are ranked.
- Period: Income statements for each company's financial year closest to calendar 2025. For a company whose financial year ends at another time, a balance sheet near 31 December is usually a quarterly one.
- Companies: Companies listed on Nasdaq, NYSE or Cboe when the data was built, reporting under US GAAP. Blank-check companies (SPACs) are left out. Banks, insurers and brokers are left out: their revenue, costs and borrowing work differently from other businesses. Companies that report no interest expense are left out.
- Industries: each company's SIC code, as recorded by the SEC, grouped into plain-language industries. The SIC codes in each group are listed in the CSV download.
- Limits: these are public companies, which are larger than most businesses. The list is today's listed companies, so earlier years leave out companies that have since delisted. Companies tag figures themselves, and some tag them inconsistently; medians and quartiles are used because one odd figure barely moves them.
Built on 19 October 2026 from SEC data for 2025 and the four years before.
Using these figures for a smaller business
Listed companies are larger than most businesses and often have easier access to credit, so a small business in the same industry can have a different interest coverage ratio for good reasons. Use the industry range as a rough reference, and compare most closely with your own earlier periods and with businesses of a similar size and model. Read it with the debt-to-equity ratio and the debt-to-assets ratio, which show how much the business has borrowed. The debt service coverage ratio adds loan repayments to the interest.