NAICS code for a beauty salon or hair salon: 812112

This page is for salon owners and self-employed stylists who need a code for a form (a business license, a bank or insurance application, a tax return, SAM.gov) and for sellers building a list of salons. It covers the codes, how to choose between them, how many US salons there are and how to find them.

The NAICS codes for salons

All four sit in 8121, Personal Care Services, in Sector 81, Other Services. Hair, nail and facial salons are grouped together at five digits (81211, Hair, Nail, and Skin Care Services), but forms and the SBA work at six.

How to choose between them

The Census definition of 812112 is broad: hair, facials and makeup in any combination. The line with barber shops is about what the business is known as, not who sits in the chair. A unisex salon that cuts men's hair is still 812112; a shop that calls itself a barber shop is 812111, and the Census index puts combined beauty and barber shops in 812112.

When a salon does several of these, the code follows the service that earns the most, which is what the IRS Schedule C instructions ask for ("the principal source of your sales or receipts"). Retail product sales at the front desk don't change a salon's code. A self-employed stylist who rents a chair runs their own business and uses 812112 on Schedule C, the same as the salon.

SIC codes for beauty salons and hair salons

The SIC code for a beauty salon or hair salon is 7231, Beauty Shops. Barber shops are 7241, Barber Shops. SIC dates from 1987, and the Census concordance shows how its codes split:

So SIC 7231 can't separate hair salons from nail salons, and a SIC 7299 list will mix day spas with valet parking. The NAICS to SIC converter shows the split for any code.

How many US salons there are

County Business Patterns 2023 (the Census Bureau's count of establishments with paid employees):

The states with the most beauty salons are California (8,733), Florida (7,534), New York (7,124), Texas (5,740) and Pennsylvania (4,846). Nail salons are more concentrated: California has 6,750, nearly a fifth of the US total, and they employ 35,630 people there, more than the state's beauty salons (33,898).

CBP counts locations with paid employees. A self-employed stylist renting a chair or a suite isn't in these figures at all, and neither is a salon run only by its owner, so the real number of salon businesses is much larger than CBP shows. CBP 2023 uses NAICS 2017; these codes didn't change in 2022.

SBA size standards

The SBA's size standards apply to all SBA programs, including its loans, unless a program says otherwise. From the Table of Size Standards effective March 17, 2023 (13 CFR 121.201 on the eCFR shows no later change), a business is small if its average annual receipts over the last five fiscal years, including affiliates, are no more than:

Almost every independent salon is far below these limits. They matter for multi-location groups and franchisors.

Where the code is used and what a wrong code costs

• Tax returns. The IRS activity codes include 812111, 812112 and 812113, but day spas and other personal care share 812190, Other personal care services, on the IRS list. Use the IRS code on the return.
• Insurance. Tell your insurer what you actually do. A salon that adds laser hair removal or injectables has moved toward 812199 or health care, and the policy should reflect it.
• Loans and grants. SBA programs check your size against your code's standard. Use the same code on loan applications as on your tax return so the two records match.

Finding salon companies by code

Public salon companies are rare. EDGAR has no 7231 code: the SEC files personal services companies under SIC 7200, which also holds funeral homes, tax preparers and uniform rental. The main salon operator there is Regis Corporation (Minneapolis), whose 10-K for the year to 30 June 2026 reports 3,712 locations, 3,448 franchised and 264 company-owned, and total revenue of $224.5 million. Each franchised Supercuts or SmartStyle location is its own business, which is why salon prospecting is a franchisee hunt.

For everything else, start from state cosmetology board license lookups, which list licensed salons by address. Then filter: most salons have fewer than five employees, so if you sell software or equipment priced for teams, target the 5 to 49 employee bands. A Bebop search can describe that in plain language (salons with several chairs, in these cities, owner-operated or multi-location) and return the businesses and owners with the reason each fits.

Worked example: coding a salon

Illustrative example. The salon and figures are invented.

Ivy and Ash Studio (ivyash.example) in Tampa had $890,000 in revenue last year: hair services $620,000, nail services $180,000 and retail products $90,000.

1. Primary code. Hair is 70% of revenue ($620,000 of $890,000), so the code is 812112, Beauty Salons. Retail sales don't change it.
2. Second code. Nails are 20%. Where a form allows several codes, add 812113.
3. SIC. Both hair and nails are SIC 7231, so one code covers the business.
4. New service. If the owner adds a laser hair removal room, that service is 812199. It becomes the primary code only if it outearns hair.

Next step: to look up any other code, or check a code a customer gave you, use the NAICS code lookup.