Visualizing the Yearly Carpet Production -- over One Billion square yards

A roll of carpet 12 feet wide and 142,000 miles long - enough to reach around the earth at the equator six times - enough to cover 1/3 of Rhode Island - enough to cover the floors in all buildings in New York City, including Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Bronx, and Manhattan.

The Impact of the Carpet Industry in Georgia

Carpet production is over 1.1 billion square yards or over 70 % of the U.S. total, with shipments totaling more than 6.5 billion dollars.

There are 177 carpet-manufacturing plants, with 55,000 employees, about 78% of the U.S. carpet manufacturing employment. Property, plants, and equipment assets total $1.9 billion, with a payroll of $890 million. Another 28,000+ persons are employed by industries, such as yarn mills, finishers, backing manufacturers, machinery suppliers, maintenance services, and samples companies, that directly support the carpet industry.

The manufacturer with the largest number of employees is a carpet manufacturer.

The six largest carpet companies and 18 of the largest 35 carpet companies are headquartered in Georgia.

Seventy-five to eighty percent of the yarn used by the carpet industry is produced and processed in Georgia.

In Dalton, Whitfield County, approximately 54% of over 50,000 strong labor force is engaged in carpet manufacturing, and seventy-two interstate trucking companies are utilized to transport carpet and raw materials, in addition to fleets owned by many carpet companies.