How Much Does a Travel Agency Earn? Receipts by Firm Size and State, Industry Revenue, Revenue Sources, Margins, Pay and Online Customer-Acquisition Costs of US Travel Agencies from Census, BLS, IRS and SEC Data, 2004–2026

Average revenue is a common yardstick for travel agencies, but the industry is highly concentrated and its revenue sources have shifted. We combine Census Bureau business statistics (Statistics of U.S. Businesses, Nonemployer Statistics, the Quarterly Services Survey, the Service Annual Survey and the Annual Integrated Economic Survey), Bureau of Labor Statistics employment and wage data, IRS corporation returns, the 10-K filings of the two largest online agencies, airline ticket settlement data and commercial advertising benchmarks. US travel agencies with employees had USD 35.6 billion of receipts in 2022, USD 4.76 million per firm across 7,476 firms, but 65.2% of firms took in under USD 500,000 and the 49 firms with USD 100 million or more held 77.0% of receipts. Between 2017 and 2022 establishments fell 40.3% while receipts per firm doubled. Revenue of travel arrangement and reservation services reached a record USD 93.1 billion in 2025, 41.6% above 2019 and 3.35 times the 2004 level. Lodging commissions and fees rose from 17.9% to 38.1% of agency revenue between 2013 and 2022, while airline seats contributed 12.8%. Agencies kept 23.2% of revenue after operating expenses in 2022, and corporations in the wider industry 13.5% of receipts as net income before tax, against 1.5% in 2017. Average pay reached USD 105,212 in 2025, 1.86 times 2014, with 74,912 jobs, 81.9% of the 2019 level. In search advertising, travel clicks cost USD 2.14 against USD 5.42 across industries, but a lead cost USD 44.70 and travel campaigns returned USD 2.12 per dollar, the lowest of seven industries.