Beyond the venues and crowds is a network of organizers, caterers, photographers, promoters and performers that supports local businesses and jobs. Across America's major cities, this industry takes different shapes, with some metros emerging as centers for particular services while others have a more varied business landscape.
Giggster compared the 30 largest U.S. metropolitan areas by population, using business counts, employment, payroll, gross receipts and employee wages. The report examines five employer-business categories, the payroll of selected industries, pay for event-related occupations and photography and promotion businesses without paid employees. A supplementary index at the end brings three concentration measures together; financial measures do not affect its scores.
Key Takeaways
- Photography and promotion businesses without paid employees recorded $7.1 billion in gross receipts. Across the 30 metros, photography accounted for about $3.8 billion and promotion for $3.3 billion in 2024.
- Selected event-related industries reported $12.9 billion in annual payroll across the 30 metros. The 2023 total includes about $5.4 billion for promoters and $3.2 billion for caterers.
- New York’s independent photography businesses averaged nearly twice Detroit’s gross receipts. The averages were about $44,100 and $23,700 per business, respectively, an 86% difference.
- Median event-planner pay varies by nearly $32,000 across the metros studied. San Francisco’s $82,120 median is about 64% higher than Atlanta’s $50,140, before accounting for living costs.
01
Where Are Event-Service Businesses Most Concentrated?
1.1 Convention and Trade Show Organizers
What the Data Shows
- Las Vegas has nearly four times as many convention and trade show organizing business locations per resident as the U.S. overall. Its 173 establishments amount to 7.4 per 100,000 residents, compared with 1.9 nationally.
- The 30 metros account for about two-thirds of U.S. convention and trade show organizing establishments. Adding the table’s counts gives 4,194 locations, or 67% of the national total of 6,270.
- New York has the most organizing business locations, but ranks 17th relative to population. Its 520 establishments amount to 2.6 per 100,000 residents, compared with 7.4 in Las Vegas.
1.2 Catering Businesses
What the Data Shows
- San Francisco has about twice as many catering business locations per resident as the U.S. overall. Its 359 establishments amount to 7.8 per 100,000 residents, compared with 3.9 nationally.
- New York has nearly 10% of U.S. catering establishments, but about 6% of the country’s residents. Its 1,307 catering locations give the metro a larger share of this industry than its population alone would suggest.
- Las Vegas leads conference organizing, but ranks 22nd for catering businesses per resident. Its 87 catering establishments amount to 3.7 per 100,000 residents, slightly below the national rate of 3.9.
1.3 Portrait Photography Studios
What the Data Shows
- Las Vegas has 83% more portrait photography studios per resident than the U.S. overall. Its 147 employer establishments amount to 6.3 per 100,000 residents, the highest rate among the 30 metros, compared with 3.4 nationally.
- Boston’s high catering ranking does not carry over to portrait photography. The metro ranks fourth for catering establishments per resident but 25th for portrait studios. Its 142 portrait-photography locations amount to 2.9 per 100,000 residents, below the national rate of 3.4.
- Austin has more than twice as many portrait-studio locations per resident as Houston or San Antonio. Its rate is 5.6 per 100,000 residents, compared with 2.6 in Houston and 2 in San Antonio.
1.4 Live-Event Promoters
What the Data Shows
- Los Angeles has 76% more live-event promotion business locations per resident than the U.S. overall. Its 628 establishments amount to 4.9 per 100,000 residents, compared with 2.8 nationally.
- Minneapolis has nearly twice as many promotion business locations per resident as Chicago. Its rate is 4.6 per 100,000 residents, compared with 2.5 in Chicago, despite having fewer locations overall, 173 versus 229.
- Miami and Orlando each have at least 70% more promotion business locations per resident than Tampa. Their rates are 4.7 and 4.5 per 100,000 residents, respectively, compared with 2.6 in Tampa.
1.5 Musical Groups and Artists
What the Data Shows
- Los Angeles and New York account for 43% of musical-group and artist business locations across the 30 metros studied. Together, they have 1,462 of the sample’s 3,385 employer establishments. This is a share of the studied metros, not the national industry.
- Los Angeles has nearly twice as many musical-business locations per resident as second-place Austin. Its rate is 6.4 per 100,000 residents, compared with 3.4 in Austin. The two metros have 828 and 86 employer establishments, respectively.
- Miami has about 50% more musical-business locations per resident than Chicago. Its rate is 3.3 per 100,000 residents, compared with 2.2 in Chicago, despite similar total counts of 210 and 203 establishments.
1.6 Employment and Payroll
02
Where Do Event-Planning Jobs and Pay Stand Out?
A high salary does not always stand out as much against other local wages. The pay comparison looks at the gap between the planner median and the median across all occupations. A separate table shows where planners account for a larger share of jobs. An additional table compares employee pay across four event-related occupations.
Highest planner wage
San Francisco
$82,120
Median annual wage; about 11% above its local all-occupation median
Largest local wage gap
Orlando
About34% above
$62,260 planner median vs. $46,630 across local occupations
What the Data Shows
- Event-planner wages exceed the local all-occupation median in 27 of the 30 metros studied. Denver’s two medians are equal, while Atlanta and Seattle are the only metros where planner pay falls below the local median.
- Orlando’s planner pay stands further above local wages than San Francisco’s, despite a much lower salary. Orlando’s median planner wage of $62,260 is 34% above its local all-occupation median. San Francisco’s $82,120 planner wage is about 11% above its local median.
- Seattle’s $69,890 planner salary still falls below the broader local wage median. The metro’s median across all occupations is $72,610, putting planner pay about 4% lower.
- Median event-planner pay differs by nearly $32,000 between the highest- and lowest-paying metros studied. San Francisco’s median is $82,120, compared with $50,140 in Atlanta, a difference of about 64%.
Wage-gap sources: BLS May 2025 employee wage data, also displayed by O*NET for California and Georgia. These are employee wages, not freelance fees. The comparison is not adjusted for living costs.
What the Data Shows
- Denver has the highest concentration of planner jobs, but planner pay matches the local wage median. Planners account for about an 80% larger share of employment than nationally, while both annual wage medians are $62,320.
- New York has the largest planner workforce, but ranks 16th for planners’ share of local employment. Its 9,050 planner jobs represent a share of employment close to the national level.
03
Where Are Independent Photography and Promotion Businesses Most Concentrated?
This section compares photography and promotion businesses without paid employees. The concentration tables show where each is more common relative to population; the receipts tables show total gross receipts and average gross receipts per business. These figures do not represent all freelancers or independent event suppliers.
3.1 Independent Photography Businesses
What the Data Shows
- Denver and Austin have roughly 100 independent photography businesses per 100,000 residents. Their reported rates of 101 and 99, respectively, are about 40% above the national rate of 72.
- Portland has more independent photography businesses per resident than Los Angeles or New York. Its 95 businesses per 100,000 residents compare with 90 in Los Angeles and 82 in New York, placing Portland third among the 30 metros.
3.2 Independent Promotion Businesses
What the Data Shows
- Only three metros have more than twice the national rate of independent promotion businesses. Miami leads with 78 per 100,000 residents, followed by Orlando with 60 and Las Vegas with 59, compared with 28 nationally.
- Minneapolis ranks much higher for promotion businesses with employees than for independent promoters. It places third for employer promotion establishments per resident but 23rd for promotion businesses without paid employees. Its independent-business rate is 27 per 100,000 residents.
Employer-business figures are from 2023 and independent-business figures are from 2024. These are separate comparisons, not changes in a metro’s ranking over time.
04
Additional Perspective: Giggster’s Event-Service Index
Which metros have the strongest combined concentration of the selected event-related businesses and planner jobs? This supplementary index brings together employer business locations, planner employment and independent photography and promotion businesses. Each measure receives equal weight.
The table shows the combined score alongside the three inputs, so readers can see the different strengths behind each metro’s position. It compares industry concentration, not which metro is best equipped to host an event.
What the Data Shows
- Miami and Las Vegas lead the combined index, with Denver close behind. Miami and Las Vegas each score 82/100 after rounding, followed by Denver at 79/100.
- The three index measures have three different leaders. Las Vegas leads selected employer-business locations per resident, Miami leads independent photography and promotion businesses per resident, and Denver leads planners’ share of employment. Their respective figures are 22 locations per 100,000 residents, 163 independent businesses per 100,000 residents, and a planner employment share about 80% above the national level.
- Los Angeles leads two individual industries but ranks sixth in the combined index. It has the highest per-resident rates for live-event promotion and musical-group and artist establishments, while its supplementary index score is 69/100.
Key Terms
Metro area
The full metropolitan statistical area used in the research, not just the named city. Short metro labels are used throughout.
Business location (employer establishment)
A business location with paid employees. A company can have more than one establishment. A musical establishment is not necessarily one band or one musician.
Independent business
A business with no paid employees. These counts do not represent all freelancers, people available for hire or all event suppliers.
Rate per 100,000 residents
A business count divided by the corresponding metro population and multiplied by 100,000. This adjusts for population, not customer demand.
U.S. overall (national rate)
The number of businesses in the same category for every 100,000 residents across the country. It uses the national business count and national population, not an average of the 30 metros in this report.
Compared with U.S. overall
The number of businesses per resident in a metro divided by the matching national rate. A value of 2× means twice as many per resident, not twice as many businesses overall.
Planner employment share
Planners’ share of all local employment compared with their share nationally, using the BLS location quotient. A value of 2× means twice the national share of employment.
Median annual wage
The midpoint of employee wages, not an average or a freelance booking fee. The local pay comparison uses the median across all occupations, not a living-cost index.
Supplementary event-service index
The equal-weight average of three standardized measures: selected employer businesses per resident, planners’ share of employment and independent photography and promotion businesses per resident. It is a sample-relative concentration score, not a percentage of event readiness.
Gross receipts
Business receipts before expenses. This is not profit, owner earnings or take-home pay. The report uses this measure for photography and promotion businesses without paid employees.
Average gross receipts per business
Total gross receipts divided by the number of businesses in the same industry and metro. This is an arithmetic average, not the median or a typical owner’s income.
Annual payroll
The annual payroll reported for the selected employer industries. It is not business revenue, profit or an estimate of the entire event industry’s economic impact.
Methodology
Giggster analyzed the 30 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas by population, based on the Census Bureau’s July 1, 2025 population estimates. Population size determined inclusion in the study, not event-industry activity. The analysis compares these 30 metros, not every U.S. metro. The main sections examine individual industries, planner jobs and wages separately. Section 4 adds a supplementary index of three selected concentration measures, not a ranking of the best places to host an event. Separate financial comparisons cover selected-industry payroll, independent-business gross receipts and employee wages; these are not additional index inputs.
The 30 metropolitan areas included
Atlanta: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA (CBSA 12060).
Austin: Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX (CBSA 12420).
Baltimore: Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD (CBSA 12580).
Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (CBSA 14460).
Charlotte: Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC (CBSA 16740).
Chicago: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN (CBSA 16980).
Cincinnati: Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN (CBSA 17140).
Dallas: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (CBSA 19100).
Denver: Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO (CBSA 19740).
Detroit: Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI (CBSA 19820).
Houston: Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX (CBSA 26420).
Las Vegas: Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV (CBSA 29820).
Los Angeles: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (CBSA 31080).
Miami: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL (CBSA 33100).
Minneapolis: Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI (CBSA 33460).
New York: New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ (CBSA 35620).
Orlando: Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL (CBSA 36740).
Philadelphia: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (CBSA 37980).
Phoenix: Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ (CBSA 38060).
Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh, PA (CBSA 38300).
Portland: Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA (CBSA 38900).
Riverside: Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA (CBSA 40140).
Sacramento: Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA (CBSA 40900).
San Antonio: San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX (CBSA 41700).
San Diego: San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA (CBSA 41740).
San Francisco: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA (CBSA 41860).
Seattle: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (CBSA 42660).
St. Louis: St. Louis, MO-IL (CBSA 41180).
Tampa: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (CBSA 45300).
Washington: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (CBSA 47900).
Sources and Coverage
Employer-establishment counts use 2023 Census County Business Patterns. The five service groups use six industry codes: business event organizers (561920), caterers (722320), portrait photography studios (541921), musical groups and artists (711130), and promoters with and without facilities (711310 and 711320). In the individual-industry tables, only the two promoter codes are added together. The supplementary index uses the original, narrower employer basket described below.
Independent-business counts use 2024 Census Nonemployer Statistics for promotion (7113) and photographic services (54192). The latter includes commercial photography as well as portrait photography and is broader than the employer photography category. Neither measure covers all independent event suppliers. Census NES datasets directory.
Planner jobs, employment concentration and median wages use the supplied May 2025 BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics extract for meeting, convention and event planners (SOC 13-1121), with all occupations (00-0000) as the local wage benchmark. BLS coverage and definitions apply. Self-employed workers are excluded. The additional wage table uses the same extract for audio and video technicians (27-4011), sound engineering technicians (27-4014) and photographers (27-4021).
Calculations use the compiled metro, population and national benchmark records described above. The report combines data from different reference years, not a single 2026 snapshot.
Population and National Comparisons
Employer counts use 2023 resident population; independent-business counts use 2024 population. The supplied population series is identified as Census Vintage 2025. Full metro names and identifiers from the extract are listed above. Matching identifiers does not by itself establish identical county boundaries across source vintages.
Rate per 100,000 residents = business count ÷ resident population × 100,000.
Multiple of the U.S. rate = metro rate ÷ matching U.S. rate. “U.S. overall” means businesses in the same category for every 100,000 residents nationwide. This benchmark is calculated from the national industry count and national population, not an average of the 30 metro rates. The 2023 national population input is 336,755,052; the 2024 input is 340,003,797.
The following national counts and rates are the inputs used for the U.S. comparisons.
National benchmark inputs
| Year | Industry | U.S. count | Per 100,000 residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Business event organizers | 6,270 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | Caterers | 13,222 | 3.9 |
| 2023 | Portrait photography studios | 11,483 | 3.4 |
| 2023 | Live-event promoters | 9,305 | 2.8 |
| 2024 | Independent promotion | 95,009 | 28 |
| 2024 | Independent photography | 243,502 | 72 |
Source Review
Calculations were reproduced from the compiled Census and BLS research tables. Selected national establishment counts and annual wage medians were cross-checked against source publications. A complete record-by-record reconciliation of the metro receipts, payroll, population inputs and source-year geographic boundaries against the original Census files has not been completed. Results reflect the compiled research data, with those limitations applying to the related comparisons.
National ratios are shown for organizing, catering, portrait photography, promotion and the two independent-business groups. Musical establishments are compared across metros only; no national music benchmark is used.
Employment and Wage Comparisons
Planner employment concentration uses the published BLS location quotient: the occupation’s share of metro employment divided by its national share. This employment denominator differs from the resident-population denominator used for businesses. The measures are not treated as interchangeable.
Local wage difference (%) = (planner median annual wage ÷ local all-occupation median annual wage − 1) × 100.
The wage table is sorted by that percentage difference. The separate employment table is sorted by planner location quotient. Neither ranks metros by worker purchasing power, career prospects or hiring demand. A difference between medians is not an estimated earnings gain from changing occupations.
Receipts, Payroll and Additional Wage Comparisons
Independent-business receipts: The 2024 analysis covers photographic services (NAICS 54192) and promoters of performing arts, sports and similar events (7113), across 60 distinct metro-industry records. Values in the research’s Receipts_000 field are multiplied by 1,000 to convert them to dollars. The two categories total 176,976 businesses and $7,147,757,000 in gross receipts: $3,840,558,000 for photography and $3,307,199,000 for promotion.
Average gross receipts per business = total gross receipts ÷ number of nonemployer businesses. The calculation is made separately for each industry and metro. Gross receipts are before expenses, not profit, salary, take-home pay or median owner earnings. Businesses can differ in size, operating period and activity; large receipts can raise the average. The categories include non-event work.
Comparison difference (%) = (first metro’s average receipts ÷ second metro’s average receipts − 1) × 100. The New York and Detroit photography comparison uses $727,427,000 ÷ 16,493 and $74,279,000 ÷ 3,132, respectively. The Miami and Atlanta promotion comparison uses $426,008,000 ÷ 5,008 and $122,781,000 ÷ 3,235. All calculations use unrounded inputs, not the rounded table displays.
Employer payroll: Employment, establishments and annual payroll are totaled across 150 metro-industry records in NAICS 561920, 722320, 541921, 711310 and 711320. Annual_Payroll_000 values are multiplied by 1,000 to convert them to dollars. The selected industries account for 22,640 employer establishments, 293,461 reported employee jobs and $12,900,898,000 in annual payroll. Musical groups and artists and industries outside this group are excluded. Employment counts are not unique worker counts, and payroll is not economic impact.
Disclosure flags: Census disclosure-protection flags are retained in the underlying data. Five employer-payroll observations carry the highest noise-adjustment flag (J, 5% or more). Close comparisons should not be overinterpreted.
Additional employee wages: The four-occupation table reproduces annual medians from the supplied May 2025 BLS extract and orders metros by planner median pay. Planner and audio/video technician wages are available for all 30 metros; sound engineering technician wages for 26; photographer wages for 29. Sound engineering values are suppressed for Dallas, Miami and Seattle, and not listed for Tampa; the Detroit photographer value is suppressed. All five cells display “Not available.” No annual figure is estimated from hourly musician pay or another occupation.
Financial rounding: Receipts and payroll totals in tables are rounded from the original figures to whole millions and displayed with a dollar sign (for example, $104M); per-business receipts are rounded to the nearest $100. Selected promotion-card figures are rounded to the nearest $1,000. Large overview figures are rounded to one decimal billion. Rounded components may not sum to rounded totals. Employee wage medians retain the dollar amounts supplied by BLS; percentage comparisons may be rounded in prose.
Payroll, business receipts and occupation-level wages describe different measures and are not added together. The payroll and receipts data also use different reference years. One-year observations cannot establish growth, changing consumer spending or inflation. Financial measures do not enter the supplementary index.
Supplementary Index: Inputs and Calculation
The supplementary index combines three equally weighted measures for the 30 metros studied: selected employer establishments, planner employment concentration and independent photography and promotion businesses. The inputs use the Census and BLS data described above.
Employer businesses, one-third of the score: Add 2023 establishments in convention and trade show organizing (561920), catering (722320), portrait photography (541921), and promotion with and without facilities (711310 and 711320). Divide by 2023 metro population and multiply by 100,000. This is four service groups across five industry codes. Musical groups and artists (711130) are excluded from the index, although analyzed separately in Section 1. The groups are not separately equal-weighted within this count.
Planner employment, one-third of the score: Use the published May 2025 BLS location quotient for meeting, convention and event planners (SOC 13-1121). It compares planners’ share of local employment with the national share, rather than jobs per resident. Wages do not enter the score.
Independent businesses, one-third of the score: Add 2024 nonemployer photographic services (54192) and promotion (7113) counts. Divide by 2024 population and multiply by 100,000. This basket includes non-event photography and excludes other independent suppliers. It is not identical to the employer basket.
Component score = 100 × (metro value − lowest value in the 30-metro sample) ÷ (highest value − lowest value).
Index score = (employer component score + planner component score + independent component score) ÷ 3.
Use the same 30 metros to determine every component’s minimum and maximum. All three inputs are present for every metro in the supplied dataset; no missing or suppressed observation is replaced with zero. A component score of zero means the lowest observed value in this sample, not the absence of businesses or workers. The final leader is not rescaled to 100.
Index scores are rounded to whole numbers out of 100, but ranks use the original unrounded calculations. Miami and Las Vegas each display 82/100, with Miami ranked first because its unrounded score is slightly higher. The calculation gives equal weight to the three normalized components; the rounded values in the table are for display only.
Sensitivity checks using alternative weights, scaling and photography definitions leave Miami and Las Vegas in the top two, although their order can change. Results depend on the selected measures, weights and comparison sample.
Music, wages, payroll, independent-business receipts, hospitality infrastructure and venue prices are not scored. The index describes combined concentration of the selected businesses and planner employment, not event quality, demand, hosting capacity, booking availability or customer satisfaction.
Ranking, Rounding and Interpretation
Sample-wide findings count metros, not businesses or residents. The organizer comparison has 21 of 30 metros above the national rate, or 70%. The independent-photography comparison has 18 of 30 above its national rate. Both findings describe the selected sample, not all U.S. metros.
All ranks are within the 30 selected metros. Business tables use unrounded per-resident rates, with the leading five or 10 rows initially visible and the rest expandable. Exact ties share a rank; identical rounded display values do not necessarily indicate ties. The employment table preserves ties in published BLS location quotients. Business-location rates of 10 or more per 100,000 residents display whole numbers. Smaller rates, national multiples and wage gaps display at most one decimal, without unnecessary trailing zeros. Supplementary index scores display whole numbers out of 100. Rounded values may look equal even when the underlying figures differ. Calculations and rankings use the original, unrounded figures. Index ranks use unrounded composite scores. Prose rounds selected comparisons for readability. Displayed figures are rounded directly from unrounded inputs, not from previously rounded values.
The per-resident independent-business tables rank reported business counts relative to population. The separate receipts tables are ordered by average gross receipts per business. Neither ranking measures profit or booking availability. Receipts disclosure-noise flags are retained in the source records; close reported values should not be treated as proof of a meaningful difference.
Population provides a consistent size benchmark but is not a measure of demand: these industries can serve visitors, organizations and clients outside their metro. Establishments can vary in size, activity and customer base. Portrait photography, promotion and other categories also include work outside events. Business locations, jobs and independent businesses are different units and are not added together as a count of providers. The supplementary index averages standardized component scores instead.
The business rankings describe industry presence; the financial comparisons describe reported payroll, receipts and employee wages. None measures event demand, service quality, event capacity or customer prices. Small differences should not be interpreted as statistically significant.
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