IT budget benchmarks · 2026
IT spend as a percentage of revenue, by industry
How much should a company spend on technology? The honest answer is: it depends on the industry. Below are the benchmark ranges iCxO uses to size a company's IT-spend envelope — and what those ranges imply for some of America's largest companies, based on the revenue they report to the SEC.
IT spend benchmark ranges by industry
| Industry | IT spend, % of revenue |
|---|---|
| Technology | 8.5% – 11.0% |
| Financial Services | 6.2% – 7.4% |
| Professional Services | 4.0% – 6.0% |
| Insurance | 4.0% – 6.0% |
| Healthcare & Life Sciences | 4.1% – 5.3% |
| Government & Public Sector | 3.4% – 4.8% |
| Energy & Utilities | 2.6% – 3.8% |
| Retail & Consumer Goods | 1.9% – 2.6% |
| Manufacturing | 1.8% – 2.4% |
Estimated annual IT budgets of large US companies
Latest fiscal-year revenue from each company's SEC 10-K filing × its industry benchmark range. These are estimates for comparison, not figures reported by the companies.
| Company | Industry | Revenue (10-K) | Estimated IT budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| UnitedHealth Group (UNH) | Healthcare & Life Sciences | $447.6B FY2025 | $18.4B – $23.7B |
| Walmart (WMT) | Retail & Consumer Goods | $713.2B FY2026 (Jan) | $13.6B – $18.5B |
| JPMorgan Chase (JPM) | Financial Services | $182.4B FY2025 | $11.3B – $13.5B |
| Bank of America (BAC) | Financial Services | $113.1B FY2025 | $7.01B – $8.37B |
| Ford Motor (F) | Manufacturing | $187.3B FY2025 | $3.37B – $4.50B |
| Home Depot (HD) | Retail & Consumer Goods | $164.7B FY2025 (Feb) | $3.13B – $4.28B |
| Pfizer (PFE) | Healthcare & Life Sciences | $62.6B FY2025 | $2.57B – $3.32B |
| Duke Energy (DUK) | Energy & Utilities | $32.2B FY2025 | $0.84B – $1.22B |
| Southern Company (SO) | Energy & Utilities | $29.6B FY2025 | $0.77B – $1.12B |
| NextEra Energy (NEE) | Energy & Utilities | $27.4B FY2025 | $0.71B – $1.04B |
Budgets this size always hide money
The usual suspects: software licenses nobody logs into, contracts priced above market, cloud capacity running idle, and technical debt nobody has priced. Finding them used to take a consulting team months. iCxO does it in hours — from your budget, your contracts and your cloud bills.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of revenue should a company spend on IT?
It depends heavily on the industry. Technology companies typically run the highest ratios, banks and insurers sit in the middle-high range, while manufacturing, retail and utilities run lower. The table on this page gives the benchmark range iCxO uses for each industry.
How are these company IT budgets estimated?
We take each company's latest fiscal-year revenue as reported in its SEC 10-K filing and multiply it by the low and high end of its industry's IT-spend benchmark range. They are estimates for comparison — not figures reported by the companies.
How can I benchmark my own company's IT budget?
iCxO pulls your company's (or any public peer's) 10-K from SEC EDGAR, derives its IT-spend envelope, and compares your actual budget by category — labor, material, contracts and other — against market norms, then quantifies savings opportunities.
Revenue: SEC EDGAR XBRL company facts, latest annual 10-K. Industry ranges: iCxO benchmark model. Company IT budgets on this page are estimates and are not endorsed by or reported by the companies named.