An inventory turnover only means something next to the figures of similar businesses. This table shows, for each industry, the inventory turnover 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 inventory turnover calculator and choose your industry under the result.
Median inventory turnover for each industry
| Middle half 25th–75th percentile | Range chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All industries | 4.02 | 2.31–7.94 | 1,624 | |
| Construction | 34.52 | 17.67–97.26 | 18 | |
| Business services | 15.40 | 7.71–43.17 | 25 | |
| Utilities and waste services | 14.91 | 8.17–29.94 | 22 | |
| Software and IT services | 13.12 | 4.19–63.25 | 77 | |
| Healthcare services | 12.49 | 8.31–21.94 | 24 | |
| Online and specialty retail | 5.98 | 3.16–11.68 | 50 | |
| Wholesale distribution | 5.79 | 2.74–11.52 | 78 | |
| Auto dealers and gas stations | 5.42 | 2.33–6.79 | 17 | |
| Food, beverage and tobacco | 5.41 | 4.02–8.44 | 73 | |
| Paper, wood and furniture | 5.00 | 3.52–6.03 | 34 | |
| Building materials and metals | 4.69 | 4.13–5.70 | 34 | |
| Computers and hardware | 4.63 | 2.72–9.38 | 38 | |
| Motor vehicles and transport equipment | 4.61 | 2.45–6.61 | 70 | |
| Mining | 4.25 | 1.39–8.09 | 22 | |
| Chemicals and personal care | 4.14 | 2.69–6.04 | 84 | |
| Apparel and footwear retail | 4.09 | 2.45–5.22 | 18 | |
| General merchandise and home retail | 4.05 | 2.83–6.15 | 27 | |
| Other manufacturing | 3.95 | 2.04–5.48 | 30 | |
| Fabricated metal products | 3.49 | 2.64–6.34 | 38 | |
| Industrial machinery | 3.34 | 2.60–4.26 | 96 | |
| Semiconductors and electronic components | 3.32 | 2.51–4.56 | 108 | |
| Aerospace and defense | 3.25 | 2.05–7.52 | 30 | |
| Apparel, textiles and footwear | 3.17 | 2.22–4.01 | 31 | |
| Electrical and communications equipment | 3.04 | 2.16–4.63 | 93 | |
| Scientific and measuring instruments | 2.52 | 1.88–4.01 | 54 | |
| Pharmaceuticals and biotech | 2.00 | 1.03–3.36 | 141 | |
| Medical devices and supplies | 1.97 | 1.36–3.07 | 145 |
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 inventory turnover 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.
Businesses that sell perishable or fast-moving goods turn their inventory over many times a year. Businesses that hold complex products, spare parts or goods that take a long time to make turn it over slowly. Only companies that report inventory are included, so most service businesses are not in this table.
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 | 4.34 | 2.62–8.18 | 1,445 |
| 2022 | 3.95 | 2.36–7.64 | 1,521 |
| 2023 | 3.74 | 2.13–7.45 | 1,591 |
| 2024 | 3.84 | 2.16–7.33 | 1,638 |
| 2025 | 4.02 | 2.31–7.94 | 1,624 |
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: Cost of goods sold (
us-gaap:CostOfGoodsAndServicesSold, or elseus-gaap:CostOfRevenue, or elseus-gaap:CostOfGoodsSold); Inventory (us-gaap:InventoryNet), as each company tagged them in its filing. - Calculation: the inventory turnover 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, with balance sheets at the end of 2024 and 2025 averaged. 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. Only companies that report inventory are included.
- 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 inventory turnover 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. The cash conversion cycle turns inventory turnover into days and combines it with how fast customers pay and how slowly suppliers are paid. Asset turnover gives the same kind of measure for all assets.