NAICS code 541611: administrative and general management consulting

This page is for consultants putting 541611 on a registration or bid, and for sellers whose customers are management consultancies or the agencies that hire them. For a side-by-side of all the consulting codes, see the NAICS code for consulting page.

What 541611 covers

The Census Bureau's 2022 definition covers establishments giving operating advice to businesses and other organizations on administrative management: financial planning and budgeting, equity and asset management, records management, office planning, strategic and organizational planning, site selection, new business start-up and business process improvement. It also covers general management consultants who offer a full range of administrative, HR, marketing, process, distribution or logistics consulting.

The Census index lists 11 activities under the code, including business start-up consulting, medical office management consulting, reorganizational consulting and site location consulting. The definition calls it a "U.S. industry": the six-digit split is American detail, and Canada and Mexico classify at 54161, Management Consulting Services.

541611 or another code?

The Census cross-references and index draw the line between advising on something and doing it, and between management advice and specialist advice.

The SIC code

541611's only SIC predecessor in the Census concordance is 8742, Management Consulting Services, so a 541611 firm gives 8742 on any form that asks for SIC. The reverse isn't clean: 8742 also became 541612, 541613, 541614 and part of 561312, executive search. The SEC uses 8742 too, as "Services-Management Consulting Services," reviewed by its Office of Trade & Services.

How many businesses use 541611

County Business Patterns 2023 counts 104,494 establishments with paid employees in 541611, 46% of the 225,945 in the wider consulting group 5416. They employed 869,457 people, an average of 8.3 per establishment, with $105.9 billion in annual payroll, or about $121,750 per employee (our calculation). CBP uses the 2017 NAICS codes; 541611 didn't change in 2022.

The top states are California (17,851 establishments), Florida (11,375), Texas (9,705), New York (6,148) and North Carolina (3,887). CBP counts locations, not firms, and leaves out solo consultants with no employees.

SBA size standard and federal contracting

The SBA's size standard for 541611 is $24.5 million in average annual receipts, in its table effective 17 March 2023, which was still the current version of the regulation in October 2026. Receipts are totaled over your last five completed fiscal years and divided by five, and affiliates count.

What decides your status on a given bid is the solicitation. The contracting officer picks one NAICS code for each solicitation, the one that best describes what's being bought, and you must be under that code's standard. If you think the code is wrong, you can appeal to the SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals within 10 calendar days of the solicitation or the amendment that set it.

On GSA's OASIS+ contract for professional services, 541611 is the first code (CLIN X0101) of the Management and Advisory domain, at $24.5 million. The domain has seven other codes, from 541612 human resources consulting to 541990 all other professional services.

Federal spending under 541611

From USAspending.gov, these are the federal contract obligations recorded under NAICS 541611. They're the sum of contract transactions in each fiscal year, so modifications and deobligations are included.

That's a 24.5% drop in a year. It was still the largest consulting code in fiscal 2025: obligations under 541614 were $2.01 billion, 541690 $2.17 billion, 541618 $0.84 billion, 541612 $0.80 billion and 541613 $0.38 billion. The six largest buyers in fiscal 2025:

Finding companies in 541611

Public consultancies mostly file under SIC 8742; the EDGAR list for SIC 8742 shows every registrant. The largest by revenue, with how each describes itself in its latest 10-K:

An SIC code describes the registrant, not each contract: Booz Allen's federal contracts are spread across many NAICS codes, as the guide to finding a company's NAICS code shows. For private firms, USAspending's award search filtered to NAICS 541611 lists the recipients that won contracts under the code, and the SBA's Small Business Search filters small firms by NAICS. Bebop finds private consultancies from a plain-language description and researches each account.

Worked example

Illustrative example. The seller is fictional; the counts are County Business Patterns 2023 and USAspending fiscal 2025.

Brightline Proposals (brightline.example) sells proposal-management software and wants 541611 firms big enough to have a proposal team but small enough to buy without a long procurement.

1. Size the market. CBP counts 3,084 + 1,294 + 840 = 5,218 establishments in 541611 with 20 to 249 employees.
2. Find the federal bidders. An award download from USAspending for NAICS 541611 gives the recipients that won contracts in fiscal 2025. Brightline checks each recipient's headcount and keeps those in its band.
3. Prioritize by buyer. Defense and HHS together were $5.23 billion of the $11.29 billion obligated (46%), so consultancies with work at those agencies come first.
4. Pick the angle. With 541611 obligations down 24.5% in a year, Brightline's first email asks how the drop has changed each firm's bid volume and win rate, instead of leading with features.

Next step: compare 541611 with the neighboring consulting codes on the NAICS code for consulting page.