Short answer
The SIC code for a church is 8661, Religious Organizations, and the NAICS 2022 code is 813110, Religious Organizations. Both cover churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, monasteries, missions and denominational offices, and SIC 8661 maps to 813110 alone. Activities a church runs as a separate operation use their own codes: a parochial school is 611110 (SIC 8211), a preschool or day care 624410 (SIC 8351), a thrift store 459510 and a cemetery 812220.
- Churches use SIC 8661 and NAICS 813110, a one-to-one match in the Census concordance.
- Church schools, day cares, broadcasters, publishers and thrift stores are classified by their own activity, not 813110.
- County Business Patterns counted 186,801 religious organization establishments with paid staff in 2023, employing 1,576,295 people.
- The IRS master file lists 293,326 churches, but churches don't have to apply for recognition, so it misses many.
- Churches are nonprofits, so SBA's for-profit small business rules and size standards don't apply to them.
On this page
This page is for church administrators, treasurers and business managers who need a code for an insurance application, a bank or payroll provider, a vendor form or a grant portal, and for companies that sell to churches and want to count or list them. It covers the codes, the church activities coded elsewhere, Census and IRS counts, and how to find congregations.
The church codes in both systems
| System | Code | Official title | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| SIC 1987 | 8661 | Religious Organizations | Religious organizations of every faith; the 1987 manual's only code for them, and it maps entirely to 813110 |
| NAICS 2022 | 813110 | Religious Organizations | Operating religious organizations such as churches, temples, mosques and monasteries, and administering an organized religion or promoting religious activities |
The NAICS index for 813110 lists churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, shrines, places of worship, monasteries and convents (except schools), religious ministries and missions, Bible societies and religious retreat houses. A denomination's regional or national office belongs here too, under the "administering an organized religion" half of the definition.
SIC 8661 maps to 813110 and nothing else, and 813110 draws only on 8661, so you can convert in either direction without a lookup. Insurance applications often ask for SIC; banks, payroll providers and federal systems usually ask for NAICS. If a UK Companies House form asks, it means the UK SIC 2007 list, which uses 94910, "Activities of religious organisations."
Church activities with their own codes
The Census cross-references for 813110 send several church-run operations elsewhere. Use these when the activity is run as its own operation, with its own staff, location, license or tax ID:
| If the church runs... | NAICS 2022 | SIC 1987 |
|---|---|---|
| Worship services, a parish, mission or denominational office | 813110 Religious Organizations | 8661 |
| A parochial K to 12 school | 611110 Elementary and Secondary Schools | 8211 |
| A seminary or Bible college granting degrees | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | 8221 |
| A non-degree Bible school | 611699 All Other Miscellaneous Schools and Instruction | 8299 |
| A preschool or day care | 624410 Child Care Services | 8351 |
| A food pantry or soup kitchen | 624210 Community Food Services | 8322 |
| A radio or television station | 516110 or 516120 | 4832 or 4833 |
| A book or magazine publisher | 513130 or 513120 | 2731 or 2721 |
| A thrift store | 459510 Used Merchandise Retailers | 5932 |
| A bookstore | 459210 Book Retailers and News Dealers | 5942 |
| A cemetery | 812220 Cemeteries and Crematories | 6553 |
A wedding chapel that isn't a church is 812990, All Other Personal Services. Businesses that serve churches have their own codes too: contractors that build churches use 236220, pew makers 337127, and church supply wholesalers 423490.
How many churches there are
No single count is complete, because each source misses a different part:
| Source | Count | What it covers | What it misses |
|---|---|---|---|
| County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 813110 | 186,801 establishments | Religious organization locations with paid employees, including denominational offices | Congregations with no paid staff |
| IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, 13 October 2026 posting | 293,326 records coded as churches | Churches that applied for IRS recognition of exemption | Churches that never applied, which the IRS doesn't require |
The IRS says churches that meet the 501(c)(3) requirements are "automatically considered tax exempt" and needn't apply or file an annual return, so the master file holds only the ones that chose to apply. Of those, 162,945 carry no NTEE code; the most common codes are X20 Christianity (68,846) and X21 Protestant (38,438). The top states in the IRS file are California (33,711), Texas (24,804), New York (21,585), Florida (20,941) and Georgia (11,127).
CBP shows how small most congregations are as employers:
| Employees | Establishments | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 5 | 115,035 | 61.6% |
| 5 to 9 | 38,143 | 20.4% |
| 10 to 19 | 17,488 | 9.4% |
| 20 to 49 | 11,655 | 6.2% |
| 50 to 99 | 3,275 | 1.8% |
| 100 or more | 1,205 | 0.6% |
Annual payroll was $45.2 billion, about $28,700 per employee, a low figure that reflects part-time staff. By establishments, the top states are Texas (14,784), California (12,379), Pennsylvania (9,420), Florida (9,407) and North Carolina (8,995). Of all 186,801 establishments, 182,773 (97.8%) report a nonprofit legal form. CBP uses NAICS 2017 codes, and 813110 didn't change in 2022.
Where the code is used
- Insurance. Church property and liability applications often ask for SIC 8661. If the church runs a school or day care, list it: the insurer rates those separately.
- Banks and payroll providers. They usually want NAICS 813110 for the church's EIN. A school or preschool with its own EIN takes its own code.
- IRS forms. A church doesn't file Form 990, but if it has $1,000 or more of gross income from a regularly conducted unrelated trade or business, it files Form 990-T. Each unrelated business takes a business activity code made of the first two digits of its NAICS code and four zeros: 450000 for a retail shop open to the public, for example.
- Federal programs. SBA's size rules cover only businesses organized for profit (13 CFR 121.105), so a church can't certify as a small business. The size standard listed for 813110, $13.0 million in average annual receipts, applies to for-profit firms classified there. The nonprofit code page covers how other religious and charitable organizations code their revenue on Form 990.
Finding churches by code
Churches don't file with the SEC, and most never file a return, so the best public list is the IRS master file: free CSVs by state with each church's name, EIN, address, ruling date and, where assigned, an NTEE code. Filter on the foundation code for churches (10) or NTEE codes starting with X. It has no headcount or income for most churches, so pair it with CBP's size bands to estimate the market, and use denominational directories or a Bebop search such as churches in Dallas with a school and more than 20 staff to find the larger congregations and the reason each fits. The list of churches covers the sources in more detail.
Worked example
Illustrative example. The company and figures are invented.
Steeple Payroll (steeple.example) sells payroll and benefits software to churches with at least 10 employees, and wants to size Texas before hiring a rep.
CBP counted 14,784 religious organization establishments in Texas in 2023. Those with 10 or more employees: 1,548 (10 to 19) + 1,183 (20 to 49) + 369 (50 to 99) + 129 (100 to 249) + 18 (250 to 499) + 4 (500 to 999) + 4 (1,000 or more) = 3,255, or 22.0% of the state's total.
At its average contract of $4,800 a year, those 3,255 locations are worth about $15.6 million a year if every one bought, before allowing for multi-site churches that buy once. The IRS file gives 24,804 Texas church names and addresses but no headcount, so Steeple's team starts with congregations that also run a school or preschool, which need more staff, and checks headcount account by account.
Next step: see the sources for building a church list by denomination, size and state in the list of churches.
Sources
- North American Industry Classification System, 2022: 813110 Religious Organizations, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- NAICS concordances (1987 SIC to 2002 NAICS through 2017 to 2022 NAICS), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- County Business Patterns: 2023 (US and state files), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Exempt Organizations Business Master File Extract (EO BMF), posting of 13 October 2026, Internal Revenue Service, accessed 30 October 2026
- Exempt Organizations Business Master File Extract: information sheet (foundation and NTEE codes), Internal Revenue Service, accessed 30 October 2026
- Churches, integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches, Internal Revenue Service, accessed 30 October 2026
- Instructions for Form 990-T (2025), Internal Revenue Service, accessed 30 October 2026
- 13 CFR 121.105 and 121.201 (business concern definition and size standards), Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, accessed 30 October 2026
- Nature of business: Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, Companies House, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
What is the SIC code for a church?
The SIC code for a church is 8661, Religious Organizations, in Major Group 86, Membership Organizations. It covers churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and other religious organizations, including their administrative offices. It converts directly to NAICS 813110. Church-run schools (8211), day cares (8351) and bookstores (5942) use their own SIC codes when run as separate operations.
What is the NAICS code for a church?
The NAICS code for a church is 813110, Religious Organizations. It covers operating churches, temples, mosques, synagogues and monasteries, and administering an organized religion, so denominational offices use it too. A church's school uses 611110, its preschool 624410, its food pantry 624210 and its thrift store 459510 if those are run as separate operations.
Do churches need a NAICS code?
Not for the IRS's main filings: churches don't have to apply for exemption or file Form 990. But banks, payroll providers, insurers, grant portals and SAM.gov registrations often ask for one, and 813110 is the answer. If a church has $1,000 or more of gross unrelated business income, its Form 990-T needs a business activity code for that business.
How many churches are there in the US?
No official count covers every congregation. County Business Patterns counted 186,801 religious organization establishments with paid employees in 2023, and the IRS master file listed 293,326 churches in its 13 October 2026 posting. Both are undercounts: CBP leaves out congregations with no paid staff, and the IRS list holds only churches that chose to apply for recognition.
What NAICS code does a church daycare use?
A day care or preschool run by a church uses 624410, Child Care Services (SIC 8351), when it operates as its own program, especially if it has its own state child care license, staff or EIN. If the care is incidental, such as a nursery during services, it stays under the church's 813110. The Census cross-references classify religious organizations' social assistance in Sector 62.