A debt-to-equity ratio only means something next to the figures of similar businesses. This table shows, for each industry, the debt-to-equity ratio of the typical company and the range that the middle half of companies fall in. Every figure is calculated from the balance sheets 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 debt-to-equity ratio calculator and choose your industry under the result.
Median debt-to-equity ratio for each industry
| Middle half 25th–75th percentile | Range chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All industries | 0.97 | 0.40–2.08 | 3,347 | |
| Auto dealers and gas stations | 2.71 | 1.99–4.38 | 21 | |
| Utilities and waste services | 2.28 | 1.57–3.24 | 111 | |
| Restaurants | 2.01 | 0.99–4.82 | 34 | |
| Personal and repair services | 1.98 | 1.60–4.37 | 17 | |
| Online and specialty retail | 1.81 | 0.92–3.08 | 54 | |
| General merchandise and home retail | 1.79 | 1.01–2.96 | 31 | |
| Hotels, entertainment and leisure | 1.74 | 0.90–6.57 | 63 | |
| Apparel and footwear retail | 1.68 | 1.37–2.65 | 21 | |
| Construction | 1.55 | 0.72–2.27 | 49 | |
| Motor vehicles and transport equipment | 1.49 | 0.72–2.20 | 72 | |
| Business services | 1.44 | 0.63–2.88 | 142 | |
| Real estate and REITs | 1.40 | 0.79–3.02 | 240 | |
| Other manufacturing | 1.38 | 0.45–2.54 | 31 | |
| Telecommunications and media distribution | 1.36 | 0.77–3.02 | 57 | |
| Wholesale distribution | 1.36 | 0.69–2.51 | 86 | |
| Paper, wood and furniture | 1.33 | 0.62–2.53 | 37 | |
| Apparel, textiles and footwear | 1.32 | 0.76–2.09 | 36 | |
| Engineering, research and consulting | 1.22 | 0.46–2.06 | 51 | |
| Chemicals and personal care | 1.14 | 0.48–1.79 | 92 | |
| Transportation and logistics | 1.11 | 0.62–2.21 | 102 | |
| Computers and hardware | 1.06 | 0.43–2.47 | 46 | |
| Food, beverage and tobacco | 1.04 | 0.43–2.01 | 70 | |
| Building materials and metals | 1.03 | 0.65–1.72 | 44 | |
| Education | 0.98 | 0.54–1.50 | 31 | |
| Healthcare services | 0.95 | 0.36–2.12 | 63 | |
| Electrical and communications equipment | 0.94 | 0.50–2.34 | 101 | |
| Industrial machinery | 0.94 | 0.54–1.57 | 111 | |
| Aerospace and defense | 0.89 | 0.29–1.80 | 47 | |
| Oil and gas services | 0.87 | 0.53–1.39 | 28 | |
| Fabricated metal products | 0.86 | 0.40–1.34 | 47 | |
| Oil and gas production | 0.83 | 0.59–1.35 | 63 | |
| Medical devices and supplies | 0.80 | 0.32–1.71 | 170 | |
| Agriculture | 0.76 | 0.58–1.10 | 15 | |
| Scientific and measuring instruments | 0.70 | 0.35–1.34 | 66 | |
| Software and IT services | 0.69 | 0.32–1.68 | 340 | |
| Semiconductors and electronic components | 0.56 | 0.22–1.15 | 117 | |
| Mining | 0.52 | 0.13–0.94 | 60 | |
| Pharmaceuticals and biotech | 0.40 | 0.16–0.96 | 515 |
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 debt-to-equity 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.
Businesses with long-lived assets and steady cash flows, such as utilities, often fund a large share of those assets with borrowing, so their ratios run higher. Since 2019, US accounting rules have put most leases on the balance sheet, so businesses that rent their stores, vehicles or equipment also carry lease liabilities that raise the ratio. A company that has bought back a lot of its own shares can show a high ratio too, because buybacks shrink equity.
These figures use total liabilities, the calculator’s default, not only interest-bearing debt. Companies with zero or negative equity are left out, because the ratio means nothing for them.
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 | 0.95 | 0.35–2.01 | 2,932 |
| 2022 | 0.99 | 0.42–2.05 | 3,000 |
| 2023 | 1.02 | 0.44–2.15 | 3,117 |
| 2024 | 1.03 | 0.43–2.17 | 3,234 |
| 2025 | 0.97 | 0.40–2.08 | 3,347 |
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: Shareholders' equity (
us-gaap:StockholdersEquity, or elseus-gaap:PartnersCapital, or elseus-gaap:MembersEquity, or elseus-gaap:StockholdersEquityIncludingPortionAttributableToNoncontrollingInterest, or elseus-gaap:PartnersCapitalIncludingPortionAttributableToNoncontrollingInterest); Total liabilities (when a company reports no total: total liabilities and equity minus total equity) (us-gaap:Liabilities), as each company tagged them in its filing. - Calculation: the debt-to-equity ratio is calculated for each company with the same formula as the calculator on this site, then the companies are ranked.
- Period: Balance sheets dated closest to 31 December 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 with zero or negative equity 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 20 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 debt-to-equity 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. Compare it with the debt-to-assets ratio, which measures the same borrowing against total assets, and with interest coverage, which shows whether profits cover the interest. Debt-to-equity vs debt-to-assets explains how the two relate.