SIC code for an insurance agency: 6411, and the NAICS code 524210

This page is for agency owners and office managers filling in a carrier appointment, an errors and omissions application, a bank or lender form, SAM.gov or a tax return, and for sellers building lists of agencies and brokers. It covers the codes, how to choose among the insurance codes, what "NAIC code" means, Census counts, size standards and public brokers.

The agency codes in both systems

The NAICS index for 524210 lists insurance agencies, brokerages, brokers' offices and life insurance agencies. The code doesn't care which side you represent or what lines you sell: a captive agency that writes for one carrier, an independent agency with 30 appointments, a wholesale broker placing surplus lines and a benefits broker paid on commission all use 524210.

How to choose among the insurance codes

The line between codes is whether you sell, service or underwrite:

The title, carrier and actuarial rows come from the Census cross-references for 524210 and 524298; premium financing is indexed under 522220. A title agency that issues policies for an underwriter is 524210, while its abstract and closing work, if that's the bigger part, is 541191. The full title of 524292 is Pharmacy Benefit Management and Other Third Party Administration of Insurance and Pension Funds.

The SIC codes for insurance

SIC 6411 is one code in SIC and four in NAICS. The Census concordance splits it this way:

If someone asks for "the SIC code for insurance" in general, there are two major groups: 63 for carriers (6311 life, 6321 accident and health, 6324 hospital and medical service plans, 6331 fire, marine and casualty, 6351 surety, 6361 title, 6399 carriers not elsewhere classified) and 64 for agents, brokers and service, which has only 6411. The SEC uses the same 6411 on EDGAR. To convert any other insurance SIC code, use the SIC code lookup.

What "NAIC code" means for an agency

"NAIC" is often a typo for NAICS, but it's also the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which runs licensing systems with state regulators. For agents and agencies, the identifier that matters is the National Producer Number. NIPR, the NAIC's licensing affiliate, describes the NPN as "a unique NAIC identifier assigned during the licensing application process," given to individuals and business entities in its Producer Database. If a carrier or state form asks for your agency's NAIC or producer number, give the agency's NPN, not 524210.

How many agencies there are

County Business Patterns counted 133,728 establishments in 524210 in 2023, employing 818,561 people with an annual payroll of $74.4 billion, about $90,800 per employee. Agencies are small and numerous:

The top states are California (13,919), Texas (12,210), Florida (10,837), New York (6,336) and Illinois (5,679). Each office of a multi-office agency counts separately, and an agent working alone without employees isn't counted at all. CBP uses NAICS 2017 codes; 524210 didn't change in 2022, though 524292 was retitled to name pharmacy benefit managers.

Where the code is used

• Tax returns. The IRS business activity list keeps 524210 but collapses the other codes: 524290 for adjusting, administration and other insurance services, and 524110 or 524120 for carriers.
• Federal contracts. A solicitation for claims or plan administration would carry 524291 or 524292, not 524210, so list those codes in SAM.gov if you do that work. Size is judged against the solicitation's one code (13 CFR 121.402), and registering as small counts as certifying it (13 CFR 121.108).
• E&O, banks and acquirers. Underwriters and lenders compare you with other 524210 firms, so if most of your revenue is claims or administration fees, use that code and explain the mix.

Finding insurance agencies by code

Every agency and producer is licensed by a state insurance department, and state license lookups and NIPR are the authoritative lists of who's active. For public brokers, EDGAR lists SIC 6411 registrants. The list mixes brokers with other companies that chose 6411, so check each filer's business description. The largest brokers by 2025 revenue, from their 10-K filings:

These include consulting, reinsurance broking and fiduciary investment income where the company reports them. For the private agencies behind most of the 133,728 locations, a Bebop search such as independent P&C agencies in Ohio with 10 to 49 employees that write commercial lines can return matching firms and the reason each fits. The largest insurance companies page covers the carriers these brokers place business with.

Worked example

Illustrative example. The agency and figures are invented.

Lakeshore Risk Partners (lakeshore.example) is an independent agency with 22 staff. Last year it earned $6.3 million: commissions on commercial and personal lines $4.9 million (78%), claims adjusting for two regional carriers $1.1 million (17%), and fees for administering a county's self-insured workers' compensation plan $0.3 million (5%).

Its primary code is 524210 (SIC 6411), with 524291 and 524292 as secondary codes in SAM.gov. On its carrier appointment forms it gives its agency NPN, not a NAICS code.

Its five-year average receipts are $5.4 million, well under all three size standards ($15.0 million, $25.0 million and $45.5 million). If the county put its next workers' compensation administration contract out as a small business set-aside under 524292, Lakeshore could bid it, even though the work is only 5% of its revenue today.

Next step: see the largest carriers and how they're organized in the list of the largest insurance companies.