Cold email software for staffing agencies
Acqro gives staffing and temporary help agencies cold email that researches each prospect's company before writing. Below: verified federal data on the industry across all 50 states, the buyers it sells to, and a playbook for outreach that earns replies.
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How many staffing agencies are in the United States?
The United States had 38,254 establishments in NAICS 561320, temporary help services, in 2023, employing 3,645,678 people. The largest markets by establishments were California, Texas and Michigan. Source: U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns.
Staffing agencies in the US by the numbers
- US establishments
- 38,254−2.8% vs 2022Census CBP 2023, NAICS 561320
- Paid employees
- 3,645,678Census CBP 2023
- Average annual pay
- $48,635Census CBP 2023
- Firms under 10 employees
- 45.9%Census CBP 2023
- Largest state
- CaliforniaBy establishments, CBP 2023
Census does not publish a separate category for staffing and temporary help agencies; figures use NAICS 561320, Temporary Help Services, the closest official industry. 45.9% of establishments have fewer than 10 employees, so most firms in the industry run outbound with a founder or a very small sales team. The 17,959 firms with 10 to 249 employees are the ones most likely to be building a repeatable outbound process.
The five largest states hold 36.1% of all establishments. Among states with at least 100 establishments, the fastest growth between 2022 and 2023 was in Delaware (+13.8%), Arkansas (+6.7%) and Tennessee (+3.8%). Growing markets bring new competitors and new buyers at the same time, which rewards outreach that is specific rather than volume-driven.
Staffing agencies by state
All states and DC ranked by number of establishments, with the change since 2022.
| Rank | State | Establishments | Employees | Change vs 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 3,939 | 726,142 | −4.0% |
| 2 | Texas | 3,393 | 297,444 | +0.8% |
| 3 | Michigan | 2,780 | 143,666 | +3.7% |
| 4 | Florida | 2,147 | 195,001 | −1.9% |
| 5 | Georgia | 1,533 | 154,752 | −2.2% |
| 6 | Illinois | 1,511 | 195,433 | −4.8% |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | 1,460 | 110,839 | −2.5% |
| 8 | New York | 1,431 | 155,394 | −0.6% |
| 9 | North Carolina | 1,403 | 108,584 | +1.7% |
| 10 | Ohio | 1,401 | 134,097 | −2.9% |
| 11 | New Jersey | 1,188 | 131,793 | +2.9% |
| 12 | Wisconsin | 1,075 | 68,944 | −3.1% |
| 13 | Tennessee | 1,026 | 106,334 | +3.8% |
| 14 | Massachusetts | 930 | 83,318 | +2.3% |
| 15 | Virginia | 906 | 65,068 | −9.9% |
| 16 | Indiana | 801 | 78,310 | +0.1% |
| 17 | Arizona | 786 | 56,723 | +0.9% |
| 18 | Washington | 721 | 48,818 | −18.3% |
| 19 | Colorado | 718 | 44,786 | −13.2% |
| 20 | Maryland | 688 | 95,149 | −10.6% |
| 21 | Minnesota | 658 | 57,241 | −7.2% |
| 22 | South Carolina | 626 | 47,116 | −0.9% |
| 23 | Missouri | 601 | 39,301 | −5.4% |
| 24 | Alabama | 579 | 48,728 | −2.7% |
| 25 | Kentucky | 495 | 38,488 | −6.4% |
| 26 | Oregon | 466 | 32,315 | −14.3% |
| 27 | Louisiana | 460 | 28,541 | −0.6% |
| 28 | Connecticut | 402 | 22,644 | +0.8% |
| 29 | Oklahoma | 401 | 33,857 | −4.5% |
| 30 | Kansas | 369 | 32,761 | −6.1% |
| 31 | Iowa | 325 | 18,941 | +0.6% |
| 32 | Utah | 319 | 33,956 | −1.5% |
| 33 | Nevada | 312 | 20,871 | −14.0% |
| 34 | Arkansas | 288 | 32,474 | +6.7% |
| 35 | Mississippi | 260 | 24,278 | −5.1% |
| 36 | Nebraska | 211 | 43,428 | −10.6% |
| 37 | New Hampshire | 182 | 10,935 | −4.7% |
| 38 | Delaware | 165 | 9,985 | +13.8% |
| 39 | Idaho | 148 | 7,026 | −25.6% |
| 40 | District of Columbia | 144 | 7,853 | −6.5% |
| 41 | New Mexico | 138 | 8,061 | −11.0% |
| 42 | Rhode Island | 130 | 6,664 | −1.5% |
| 43 | West Virginia | 117 | 6,913 | −13.3% |
| 44 | Maine | 112 | 5,760 | −0.9% |
| 45 | Hawaii | 98 | 17,580 | +12.6% |
| 46 | Montana | 96 | 2,561 | −25.6% |
| 47 | North Dakota | 76 | 2,429 | +1.3% |
| 48 | Wyoming | 73 | — | −11.0% |
| 49 | South Dakota | 59 | 1,106 | −14.5% |
| 50 | Vermont | 56 | 1,164 | +7.7% |
| 51 | Alaska | 51 | 892 | −12.1% |
Who staffing agencies sell to
Common buyer industries for staffing and temporary help agencies, with US establishment counts and how many have 10 to 249 employees.
| Buyer industry | Establishments | 10–249 employees | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 284,452 | 123,720 | 12,335,234 |
| Warehousing and Storage | 21,521 | 9,818 | 1,648,638 |
| General Medical and Surgical Hospitals | 5,777 | 1,597 | 5,815,843 |
| Business Support Services | 29,171 | 5,847 | 673,396 |
How staffing agencies should run cold email
Staffing and temporary help agencies sell temporary, contract and temp-to-hire workers to employers facing hiring spikes or hard-to-fill roles. These are the contacts, triggers and messages that make a first email relevant rather than generic.
Who to email
- HR director or talent acquisition lead
- Plant or operations manager
- Hiring managers for high-volume roles
- Owner at smaller employers
Signals worth researching
- A cluster of open job posts for the same role
- Facility openings or expansion announcements
- Seasonal demand patterns in the prospect's industry
- Roles that have been reposted for weeks, suggesting difficulty filling them
What to say
- Reference the exact roles they are struggling to fill
- Speak to time-to-fill and shift coverage rather than your candidate database size
- Offer a shortlist for one specific role as the call to action
What to avoid
- Mass emails to every HR contact at an account
- Claims about candidate pools you cannot verify
Cold email for staffing agencies, answered
How many staffing agencies are there in the US?
There were 38,254 establishments in NAICS 561320 (Temporary Help Services) in 2023, employing 3,645,678 people. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023.
Which states have the most staffing agencies?
By establishments in 2023: California (3,939), Texas (3,393), Michigan (2,780), Florida (2,147) and Georgia (1,533). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023.
What is the best signal for staffing agency cold outreach?
Open job posts are the strongest public signal. Several postings for the same role, or roles reposted over weeks, suggest a hiring problem that a staffing partner can solve. Referencing the specific roles makes the email immediately relevant.
Should staffing agencies email HR or hiring managers?
Both can work, but hiring managers for high-volume or hard-to-fill roles often feel the pain most directly. HR and talent acquisition leads control vendor lists, so many agencies start with the hiring manager and bring HR in once there is a specific need.
Is cold email legal in the United States?
Yes. The federal CAN-SPAM Act permits commercial email to business contacts without prior consent, provided the message identifies the sender accurately, uses a truthful subject line, includes a valid physical postal address and a working opt-out, and honours opt-out requests promptly. CAN-SPAM applies in every state and preempts most state commercial email laws, except provisions aimed at falsity or deception. This is general information, not legal advice.
Explore related pages
Staffing Agencies by state
Other industries
Sources and methodology
Every figure on this page comes from a federal statistical release and is shown with its source and reference year. Figures the agencies withhold or publish with high noise are left out rather than estimated. Page updated September 17, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 and 2022: establishments, paid employment for the pay period including March 12, annual payroll, and establishments by employment size. Industries use NAICS 2017 codes.
- Industry definition: NAICS 561320, Temporary Help Services, used as the closest official category for staffing and temporary help agencies.
Built for staffing agencies who sell to a finite list
Acqro researches every account on your list and writes the first email from what it finds.
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