Guide

Days sales outstanding by industry

The median days sales outstanding and the range of the middle half of companies for each industry, measured from the financial statements that US-listed companies file with the SEC, with five years of history and a free CSV download.

A days sales outstanding only means something next to the figures of similar businesses. This table shows, for each industry, the days sales outstanding 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 days sales outstanding calculator and choose your industry under the result.

Median days sales outstanding for each industry

Days sales outstanding by industry in 2025
		Middle half 25th–75th percentile
All industries	46.7 days	26.7–67.8 days	2,570
Electrical and communications equipment	62.9 days	43.2–85.8 days	98
Scientific and measuring instruments	60.9 days	55.3–71.9 days	60
Construction	60.5 days	44.5–71.7 days	28
Pharmaceuticals and biotech	60.5 days	37.6–88.8 days	218
Industrial machinery	58.6 days	48.8–78.3 days	96
Semiconductors and electronic components	58.2 days	45.7–69.7 days	104
Computers and hardware	57.6 days	44.8–75.3 days	44
Software and IT services	56.6 days	32.8–86.4 days	334
Engineering, research and consulting	56.5 days	39.9–73.9 days	45
Oil and gas services	56.2 days	45.1–77.0 days	25
Business services	55.1 days	31.7–72.4 days	128
Other manufacturing	53.4 days	45.9–70.6 days	30
Medical devices and supplies	53.2 days	43.3–70.3 days	135
Aerospace and defense	51.8 days	38.7–60.3 days	38
Fabricated metal products	49.8 days	39.7–60.5 days	42
Telecommunications and media distribution	48.5 days	30.9–70.6 days	56
Utilities and waste services	44.6 days	31.4–54.7 days	84
Chemicals and personal care	44.0 days	33.4–60.2 days	75
Healthcare services	43.8 days	33.5–51.8 days	63
Printing and publishing	42.5 days	35.7–61.0 days	16
Motor vehicles and transport equipment	42.5 days	18.8–57.1 days	60
Oil and gas production	41.9 days	33.2–48.8 days	51
Building materials and metals	40.2 days	32.1–54.0 days	37
Mining	39.5 days	24.7–45.0 days	29
Wholesale distribution	36.1 days	23.2–57.8 days	82
Personal and repair services	34.3 days	16.7–42.8 days	18
Education	32.9 days	22.1–90.6 days	24
Paper, wood and furniture	32.3 days	21.6–43.6 days	37
Apparel, textiles and footwear	31.2 days	19.0–46.1 days	34
Transportation and logistics	30.2 days	12.5–45.9 days	90
Food, beverage and tobacco	29.0 days	21.9–37.3 days	70
Real estate and REITs	20.5 days	7.0–63.7 days	49
Hotels, entertainment and leisure	18.7 days	9.6–53.5 days	63
Auto dealers and gas stations	9.7 days	6.8–12.7 days	19
Online and specialty retail	9.6 days	3.6–26.2 days	56
Apparel and footwear retail	6.9 days	2.6–9.8 days	20
General merchandise and home retail	6.7 days	4.1–26.7 days	21
Restaurants	6.3 days	3.2–16.1 days	33

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 days sales outstanding 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.

DSO depends mostly on how customers pay. Businesses that sell to consumers for cash or by card collect almost at once, while businesses that sell to other companies on credit terms wait weeks or months. Companies do not report credit sales separately, so these figures use total revenue. For a business that also has cash sales, that makes DSO look shorter than credit sales alone would.

The guide to why financial ratios vary by industry explains these differences in more detail.

How the median has changed

All industries, each year
Year	Median	Middle half	Companies
2021	46.3 days	27.0–65.7 days	2,270
2022	46.6 days	26.2–66.6 days	2,385
2023	48.9 days	27.5–68.4 days	2,455
2024	48.2 days	26.8–69.4 days	2,565
2025	46.7 days	26.7–67.8 days	2,570

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: Accounts receivable (us-gaap:AccountsReceivableNetCurrent, or else us-gaap:ReceivablesNetCurrent); Revenue (us-gaap:Revenues, or else us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax, or else us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax, or else us-gaap:SalesRevenueNet), as each company tagged them in its filing.
Calculation: the days sales outstanding 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. Companies with less than $1 million of revenue are left out, since a tiny revenue figure makes the ratio meaningless. Companies do not report credit sales separately, so total revenue is used. That makes the figures a little lower than credit sales alone would.
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 days sales outstanding 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. Days payable outstanding measures the other side, how long the business takes to pay its suppliers. The cash conversion cycle combines both with inventory.

This page is for education. It is not financial, investment, tax, accounting or legal advice. Results depend on the figures you enter and the formula definitions shown, so check them against your own statements and, where it matters, ask a qualified professional.