Local market data · E-commerce brands · New York

AI for e-commerce brands in New York

The New York metro area had 5,108 e-commerce brands in 2022, the most of all 385 US metros and 9% of all in the country. They employed 67,153 people at an average of $72,106 a year. 88% have fewer than 10 staff, so the same few people answer the phone, book, follow up and do the paperwork. Those are the jobs AI tools take on today.

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E-commerce brands in New York vs the US

New York metroUnited States
Businesses5,10855,633
People employed67,153780,598
Average staff per business13.114.0
Average yearly pay per employee$72,106$59,596
Share with fewer than 10 staff88%86%

Pay here is 21% higher than the national average for e-commerce brands, so every hour of staff time costs more to spend on admin. The average e-commerce brand here has 13.1 people on payroll, 6% lower than the US figure of 14.0.

How big e-commerce brands in New York are

Fewer than 5 staff3,919 (77%) US 73%
5 to 9554 (11%) US 13%
10 to 19308 (6%) US 7%
20 to 49176 (3%) US 4%
50 or more151 (3%) US 3%

Businesses with paid employees, by number of employees, March 2022.

E-commerce brands by county in the New York area

Kings County has the most, with 1,055 of the metro's 5,108 (21%). Among the 10 big metros on this page, New York ranks 4th for average pay and 5th for the share of small firms.

CountyBusinessesEmployeesAvg pay
Kings County1,0556,784$137,975
New York County77813,572$96,520
Queens County4931,320$41,230
Nassau County4513,331$69,687
Bergen County3352,556$57,862
Suffolk County3283,472$58,191
Ocean County2001,566$58,582
Rockland County194742$55,032
Westchester County1581,720$96,006
Middlesex County15712,504$43,121
Essex County1433,680$91,872
Monmouth County140762$44,451

10 smaller counties not shown. Census withholds pay where few firms would make it identifiable.

Where AI helps a e-commerce brand first

An e-commerce brand should start with the work that repeats daily: customer support emails about shipping and returns, product descriptions, abandoned cart follow-up and review requests. AI can draft and sort those while you work on product and ads. Westward builds these systems for online brands, and a person approves what customers see.

What your team's admin hours cost in New York

Change any number. The starting values are the New York averages above; the hours and the share are yours to set.

Those hours cost you$182,000 a year

The share you would hand off$54,600 a year

Hours your team gets back1,560 a year

See what we would build for this

Guides for e-commerce brands, one job each

E-commerce brands in other big metros

MetroBusinessesAvg payRank of 387
Los Angeles5,015$74,5972nd
Chicago1,427$60,8784th
Miami2,353$54,0273rd
Dallas1,401$51,3385th
Houston1,019$48,62710th
Atlanta1,331$44,7326th
Washington715$75,94317th
Philadelphia1,058$54,7827th
Boston775$113,41216th

Where these numbers come from

From the U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2022 (released 2024), industry code NAICS 454110 (Electronic shopping and mail-order houses), for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metro area (22 counties). It counts businesses with paid employees in March 2022, so solo owners with no payroll are not in it. Average pay is total yearly payroll divided by employees. The calculator uses 50 working weeks and 2,080 hours a year. Page checked 2026-11-12.

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