I'm looking for a statistic from a solid, citable source regarding the
size of the software industry in the United States in 2005 or 2004.
This figure can be measured in terms of estimated total sales
(revenues) or estimates of the size of the industry as a percentage of
GDP. Either approach is fine. It doesn't need to be precise (estimates
are fine), but it does have to come from a valid source.

I do not want hardware sales such as PC or device sales included in
the figure. I would really like to focus solely on software.

A bonus would be both years, so I can compare, but either one is fine by itself. 

The source *must* be reputable, e.g., the Statistical Abstract of the
U.S., the Wall Street Journal, or other reputable government or news
publications.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 27 Aug 2006 06:47 PDT

ctanswers-ga,

The software industry in the US was a $104 billion business in 2002,
according to figures from the US government, which were released in
2004.

Unfortunately, these appear to be the most recent figures available.

I've seen mention elsewhere that the software industry grows about
5-6% a year, so one could readily estimate 2006 figures, using that
growth rate as an assumption.


Would that sort of information -- along with a full cite for the 2002
data -- meet your needs?

Let me know.

pafalafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by ctanswers-ga on 27 Aug 2006 07:29 PDT

A full cite for the 2002 government data would work if that is the
best available information. Thank you!

If you can find a reputable cite for the growth rate, that would be
ideal. I can use it, but only if I can provide a full citation for
that information. I need to cite this information in a document in
which each assertion must be fully cited by reputable sources, so
while I could extrapolate, I can only do that if the growth rate is
citable.

However, if you don't have a cite for the growth rate, and 2002 is the
last year available, that's okay.

ctanswers-ga,

Thank you for getting back to me so promptly.

The data for the size of the US software industry is here:


http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/ec0251i06.pdf
Software Publishers: 2002
2002 Economic Census
Issued October 2004

Table 1. Summary Statistics for the United States: 2002

Software publishers

Number of Establishments -- 9,899

Receipts -- $103,737,152,000


There is an enormous amout of additional information in this report,
in case that is of interest to you.



The best information on growth rate comes from the very well-respected
market research firm, IDC.  The report itself is proprietary (i.e.
available for a few thousand bucks!), but the key info on growth rates
is here:


http://www.idc.com/groups/software_source/index.html#idcexpects
IDC Expects Worldwide Software Revenue Growth of 6.9% Annually Through 2008



Assuming the US segment of the global software industry (which is a
very large portion of the overall industry) grows at a rate of 6.9% a
year, then the resulting figures would be:


2002 --  $103.7 billion

2003 --  $110.8 billion

2004 --  $118.4 billion

2005 --  $126.6 billion

2006 --  $135.3 billion



I trust this information fully answers your question.  

However, please don't rate this answer until you have everything you
need.  If you would like any additional information, just post a
Request for Clarification to let me know how I can assist you further,
and I'm at your service.

All the best,

pafalafa-ga


search strategy -- Google searches on combinations of the terms:


"software industry"

US

billion

"100..500 billion"

This was tremendously helpful to me. I had spent a lot of time trying
to find the same information myself with no success.

It isn't the exact answer, but this is the closest possible answer as
the US government has not released more recent figures.