Analysis
NAICS 4242 is the 2022 industry group for drugs and druggists' sundries merchant wholesalers, part of 424 (Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods).
It has only one more detailed code, 424210, which covers exactly the same activities; the definition, index entries and statistics are on that page.
County Business Patterns counts 8,919 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 302,952 people at an average annual payroll of $159,612 per employee (98th percentile of national industries). 51% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which is close to the national mix.
Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments fell 14% and employment fell 1%. The 2018 count used NAICS 2017, so part of a large move can come from codes being redefined rather than from businesses opening or closing.
By establishments it ranks 5th of the 9 codes at this level within Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods, with 7.3% of them.