Other Gasoline Stations (U.S.) — NAICS 45712

An investor's primer. NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) is the U.S. government's standard code for industries. This page covers the five-digit NAICS industry 45712, "Other Gasoline Stations." It contains a single six-digit child, 457120, of the same name — so this level and its child are effectively one and the same. For the full detail — investable names, unit economics, regulation, risks — see the 457120 primer. This page gives the short version and the rollup figures for the industry as a whole.

1. Overview

This is the "pump-only" corner of American fuel retailing: stations that sell gasoline and diesel without the attached convenience store (c-store) that defines the modern corner gas station. [3] The category is a barbell — a handful of very high-volume warehouse-club and big-box fuel islands (Costco, Sam's Club, Kroger fuel centers, BJ's) at one end, and a long, thinning tail of small independents (fading full-service/repair stations, rural fuel islands, unmanned card-lock fleet-fueling sites, marina fuel docks) at the other. [6][10][11]

The economics are simple to state and hard to win: profit comes from gallons sold, margin per gallon, whatever non-fuel service the site can add, and the value of the real estate — not from the fuel itself, which has almost certainly already peaked in the United States. [8] So the winners run huge gallons through cheap real estate and subsidize the pump with something else (membership fees, a grocery basket, repair labor).

2. What's inside — and why this level equals its one child

NAICS is a nested hierarchy: each five-digit industry breaks into one or more six-digit national industries. NAICS 45712 has exactly one child:

Because there is only one child, the two codes describe the same universe of businesses and carry the same federal statistics. There is no aggregation to do and no sibling industries to weigh against each other; 45712 is simply the label one level up from 457120. Everything in the 457120 primer — the definition, the exclusions (c-store-plus-fuel stations sit in the separate code 457110; fuel dealers who deliver heating oil and propane sit in 457210), and the ownership structure (independent dealers, lessee-dealers, wholesale jobbers, company-operated club sites) — applies here without change. [3][19]

3. Size (rollup figures for the industry)

Federal ground-truth figures for NAICS 45712, which — being a single-child industry — are the same as its child's:

The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI — the standard single-number concentration score) is suppressed in the federal data for this industry and is not stated here. [2] Establishment, employment and payroll detail (roughly 13,172 establishments and 168,654 paid employees, County Business Patterns 2023) is reported at the child level 457120; because that is the only child, it is also the industry total. [1]

Two things stand out. First, revenue is enormous relative to the firm count — about $21 million per firm — because fuel is a high-ticket, mostly pass-through product: most of the pump price is the fuel and the tax, not the retailer's take. Second, the industry is unusually concentrated for a trade with ~9,000 firms: four firms hold 60.6% of receipts. The most plausible reading (an interpretation, not a Census label) is that the top of this code is the warehouse-club and big-box fuel operators, whose price-leader islands do roughly ten times the gallons of an average site, carry no c-store, and so fall squarely into 457120. [6][10]

Undercount caveat (be honest here). Federal statistics tell this industry imperfectly. The biggest sellers of pump-only fuel are giant public retailers whose gasoline is a minor segment, so the industry's real economics never surface in any single "gas station" company. County Business Patterns and the Economic Census principally cover employer establishments, so owner-only and unmanned sites with no payroll — a real share of the rural/card-lock tail — can be missed, and small/individual ownership is genuinely undercounted here. [5] Whether a club or grocery fuel island is booked as its own establishment or folded into its parent retailer's record also varies. Treat the revenue and concentration figures as directionally right and the site count as a floor.

4. Investable universe (where value concentrates)

With a single child, all value in 45712 sits in 457120, and there is no pure-play public "other gasoline station" company. Public exposure comes wrapped in something bigger; private exposure is the only direct route. The 457120 primer carries the full table — a compressed version:

• Diversified retailers where pump-only fuel is one segment — Costco, Walmart (incl. Sam's Club), Kroger, BJ's. Costco alone ran 747 fuel stations in fiscal 2025; Kroger operates about 1,731 fuel centers. [10][11]
• Wholesale fuel distributors and master limited partnerships (MLPs — pass-through entities that pay out most cash as distributions) that supply the stations — Sunoco LP, Global Partners LP, World Kinect. [15][16]
• Station real estate via a net-lease real estate investment trust (REIT) — Getty Realty (1,118 properties). [17]
• Private operators and distribution — buying stations, dealer networks, or the wholesale supply behind them, the only direct pump-only exposure.

Tickers, gallon volumes and per-company scale are laid out in the child primer.

5. How the money works

Fuel retail is measured in cents per gallon (CPG), not percentage margin. Gross margins have run about 35–40 CPG in recent years; after credit-card interchange (roughly 2.5% per swipe, ~8–10 CPG) and other costs, net profit is often only about 15 CPG. [7] Because the per-gallon take is tiny, volume is everything — club and big-box sites priced 20–34 CPG below the local average still make money because the fuel is a traffic magnet for memberships and grocery baskets, not a profit center in itself. [10][11] A pump-only site with no c-store to cross-subsidize is the most exposed format, which is why it is shrinking. The largest hidden cost is the underground storage tank (UST): leak detection, replacement, and remediation liability that can exceed the value of the land. Full detail — the "rockets and feathers" margin cycle, site-level deal metrics — is in the 457120 primer. [7]

6. Demand drivers

Vehicle miles traveled hit an all-time high in 2024, yet gasoline consumption is falling — about 8.9 million barrels per day in 2025, ~4% below the 2019 pre-pandemic level, as new vehicles keep getting more efficient (miles per gallon, MPG) and electric and hybrid vehicles reached 22% of U.S. light-duty sales in 2025. [8][9] Peak gasoline is behind the U.S. (2018 was the high-water mark), so operators compete for share of a slowly shrinking pie. Diesel and truck-stop demand ride the freight cycle rather than commuting. [8]

7. Regulation

Fuel retail is one of the more heavily regulated small-business trades in America, and the rules apply identically at this level and at 457120. The big one is underground storage tanks: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires leak detection, spill protection and proof of financial responsibility (40 CFR Part 280), enforced mostly by states. [15] Layered on top are Clean Air Act fuel rules (vapor recovery, seasonal Reid Vapor Pressure limits, "boutique" blends), the Renewable Fuel Standard, franchise protection under the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act (PMPA), and federal plus state fuel taxes collected at the pump (18.4 CPG federal on gasoline, unchanged since 1993). [17][16][18][19] Regulation is both an operating cost and a competitive barrier — a tank replacement or contamination event is a large, site-specific expense a well-capitalized operator absorbs and a marginal one cannot. See the 457120 primer for the full regulatory map.

8. Consolidation

Competition is intensely local, but scale increasingly decides who wins. Three forces are reshaping the field: price-leader clubs and big-box take share as the growth engine of this code; the oil majors have gone asset-light, licensing their brands and leaving operations to dealers, regional chains and consolidating wholesale distributors; and the classic pump-only independent — with no c-store to subsidize thin fuel margins — is being closed, sold, or converted into a modern c-store (which moves it to code 457110) or redeveloped, with UST cleanup often the gating cost. [10][16][19] The gap between 8,986 firms and ~13,172 establishments confirms the barbell of multi-site chains and single-location businesses. [1][2]

9. Risks

• Secular demand decline — the core product is in slow structural retreat as fuel economy improves and EVs grow; the defining risk. [8][9]
• Thin, volatile margins — ~15 CPG net leaves little cushion, and margins swing with wholesale-price moves. [7]
• Environmental tail risk — a UST leak can create liability larger than the site's value. [15]
• Format disadvantage — no c-store cross-subsidy for the pure pump-only independent.
• Competitive and regulatory ratchet — price-leader clubs compress everyone nearby, and emissions rules, EV mandates and fuel-tax fights all point one way for gasoline demand. [10]

10. How to invest & outlook

Because this level equals its one child, the playbook is identical to 457120's. Public routes are all indirect: diversified retailers where pump-only fuel is a strategic slice (COST, WMT, KR, BJ), wholesale distributors and MLPs (SUN, GLP, WKC), and station real estate via a net-lease REIT (GTY) — plus adjacent c-store operators (MUSA, CASY, ATD, ARKO) as the listed proxies for American fuel retailing broadly. Private routes are the only pure exposure: owning and operating stations, the wholesale/jobber layer, and station real estate or conversion — modest entry cost but genuine environmental tail risk from the tanks.

Outlook. Gasoline volumes are in slow structural decline, so the durable winners will be the high-volume price leaders and any operator who bolts non-fuel income onto the forecourt — a convenience store, foodservice, repair labor, or increasingly EV charging. The low-volume, pump-only independent with no second income stream is the most exposed to closure or conversion. This is a mature, consolidating, slowly shrinking industry where operational excellence and cost of capital — not top-line growth — decide who wins. For the full investment case, valuation lenses and diligence checklist, read the 457120 primer.

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Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau. "County Business Patterns (CBP), 2023 — NAICS 457120" (establishments, employment, payroll; reported at the child level and, as the only child, the industry total). 2025. https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/2023/econ/cbp/2023-cbp.html
2. U.S. Census Bureau. "2022 Economic Census — Concentration of Largest Firms," table EC2200SIZECONCEN, NAICS 45712 / 457120 (receipts ~$187.8B; 8,986 firms; CR4/CR8/CR20/CR50; HHI suppressed). 2025. https://data.census.gov/table/ECNSIZE2022.EC2200SIZECONCEN?q=EC2200SIZECONCEN
3. U.S. Census Bureau. "2022 NAICS: 457120 Other Gasoline Stations" (definition and exclusions, incl. 457110 / 457210 / 8111 / 445131). 2022. https://www.census.gov/naics/?chart=2022&details=457120&input=457120
4. U.S. Census Bureau. "Economic Census: Coverage and Content" (employer-establishment universe; nonemployer gap). 2026. https://www.census.gov/econ/overview/mu0000.html
5. National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). "Who Sells America's Fuel" (~148,000 fueling outlets; c-stores ~80% of fuel sold; hypermarket ~10x average-site gallons). 2025. https://www.convenience.org/topics/fuels-and-energy/who-sells-americas-fuel
6. NACS. "Who Makes Money Selling Gas?" (35–40 CPG gross margin; ~2.5% interchange; ~15 CPG net). 2024. https://www.convenience.org/Media/conveniencecorner/Who-Makes-Money-Selling-Gas
7. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). "Increasing fuel efficiency leads to decreasing gasoline consumption" (8.9M b/d in 2025; ~4% below 2019; 2018 peak; 2024 VMT record). 2026. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67426
8. EIA. "Electric vehicle sales fell as hybrid vehicle sales continued to rise in 2025" (HEV + BEV + PHEV = 22% of light-duty sales). 2026. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67144
9. CSP Daily News / Costco Wholesale. "Costco Sees Record Fuel Sales" (747 fuel stations; ~34 CPG below local average; FY2025). 2025–2026. https://www.cspdailynews.com/fuels/costco-sees-record-fuel-sales-following-extended-gas-station-hours
10. C-Store Dive / Grocery Dive. "Inside Kroger's fueling empire" and BJ's fuel-location data (~1,731 Kroger fuel centers; ~200 BJ's). 2025. https://www.cstoredive.com/news/kroger-fuel-center-growth-loyalty/817939/
11. Global Partners LP. Annual Report (Form 10-K), year ended Dec. 31, 2024. 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1323468/000155837025001925/glp-20241231x10k.htm
12. Sunoco LP. "Leading Energy Infrastructure Operator & Fuel Distributor" (15B+ gallons/yr to ~11,000 sites; 2018 store sale to 7-Eleven). 2026. https://www.sunocolp.com/
13. Getty Realty. Annual Report (Form 10-K), year ended Dec. 31, 2024 (1,118 net-lease properties). 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1052752/000095017025019976/gty-20241231.htm
14. NACS / LegalClarity. "How Branded Gasoline Stations Work" / "Who Owns Gas Stations in the U.S." (~40% branded; dealer, lessee-dealer, jobber and company-operated models). 2024–2025. https://www.convenience.org/topics/fuels-and-energy/how-branded-gasoline-stations-work
15. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "Frequent Questions About Underground Storage Tanks" (40 CFR Part 280; leak detection; financial responsibility; state enforcement). 2026. https://www.epa.gov/ust/frequent-questions-about-underground-storage-tanks
16. EPA. "Overview of the Renewable Fuel Standard Program" (RINs; obligated parties are refiners and importers). 2025. https://www.epa.gov/renewable-fuel-standard/overview-renewable-fuel-standard-program
17. EPA. "State Fuels," "Fuel Waivers," and "E15's Compatibility with UST Systems" (RVP limits; boutique blends; E15 summer waivers). 2020–2026. https://www.epa.gov/gasoline-standards/state-fuels
18. U.S. Congress / Office of the Law Revision Counsel. "Petroleum Marketing Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. Ch. 55" (franchise termination/nonrenewal protections). 1978. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title15/chapter55&edition=prelim
19. EIA and USAFacts. "How much tax do we pay on a gallon of gasoline and diesel?" (18.4 CPG federal gasoline, unchanged since 1993; ~33 CPG average state). 2025–2026. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=10&t=5