SIC code for a nursing home or assisted living facility

This page is for operators of nursing homes, assisted living and senior living communities filling in forms that ask for a SIC or NAICS code, and for sellers of staffing, food service, pharmacy, therapy, software and supplies building a list of facilities.

The codes for nursing homes and assisted living

623110 covers establishments "primarily engaged in providing inpatient nursing and rehabilitative services," generally for an extended period, with a permanent core staff of registered or licensed practical nurses. Its examples include nursing homes, rest homes with nursing care, inpatient care hospices and assisted living facilities for the elderly with nursing care.

How to choose: where the nursing care is

The Census definitions split senior care three ways, and the line isn't the word on the sign:

For a campus with several levels of care, the Census puts "assisted living facilities with on-site nursing care facilities" in 623311, so a continuing care retirement community uses one code for the whole site. A company that runs separate buildings, each licensed differently, codes each one by what it provides.

SIC codes and the concordance

The SIC code most forms want for a nursing home is 8051, Skilled Nursing Care Facilities. For assisted living it's 8361, Residential Care. Both SIC codes split across several NAICS codes:

So a list built on SIC 8361 mixes assisted living with group homes, addiction treatment residences and youth homes, and one built on 8051 includes CCRCs. The SEC's own SIC list uses 8050, Nursing & Personal Care Facilities, and 8051. Use the NAICS to SIC converter for other codes.

How many nursing homes and assisted living facilities there are

Two federal sources count nursing homes, and they count different things.

In the CMS data, 13,904 facilities are certified for both Medicare and Medicaid, 537 for Medicare only and 245 for Medicaid only, with 1,567,009 certified beds in all. Ownership is 10,885 for-profit (74.1%), 2,853 nonprofit (19.4%) and 948 government (6.5%), and 10,227 (69.6%) belong to a chain. Texas has the most certified nursing homes (1,177), then California (1,165), Ohio (924), Florida (694) and Illinois (664).

From CBP, nursing care facilities are large employers: 1,426,754 employees in 18,126 establishments, about 79 per facility, with $63.5 billion in payroll. 5,917 facilities have 50 to 99 employees and 5,223 have 100 to 249. Assisted living is smaller and more scattered: 508,230 employees, with 6,962 of 20,884 facilities (33.3%) under five employees, which reflects small residential care homes. California leads in both (1,955 nursing care and 3,755 assisted living establishments), but Washington (1,824) and Oregon (1,090) rank second and fourth for assisted living.

CBP 2023 uses NAICS 2017; none of these codes changed in 2022.

SBA size standards

From the SBA's Table of Size Standards, effective March 17, 2023 (13 CFR 121.201 on the eCFR shows no later change), in average annual receipts over five years, including affiliates:

For a facility in a chain, affiliates' receipts count, so most chain facilities aren't small even when the building is.

Where the code is used

• Tax returns. The IRS list uses one code for the whole subsector: 623000, Nursing & residential care facilities.
• Lenders and insurers. Skilled nursing and assisted living carry different regulatory and liability profiles, so a lender or insurer will ask which you are; the code should match your state license.
• Federal contracts. The contracting officer sets one code for each contract, and your size is measured against that code's standard.
• Lists. Vendors who sell to Medicare-certified facilities should start from the CMS data, not a code.

Finding nursing homes and senior living companies

On EDGAR, operators file under SIC 8051 and SIC 8050:

Brookdale is mainly a senior living operator, so few of its communities are certified nursing homes. SIC 8050 also holds Healthcare Services Group, which describes itself as the largest provider of housekeeping, laundry and dietary management services to US long-term care, serving about 2,800 facilities, so check each filer's business. The largest chains by facility count in the CMS data include private operators too: Life Care Centers of America (194) and Genesis Healthcare (183) follow Ensign and PACS.

For a full list of certified nursing homes, the CMS Provider Information dataset is free and downloadable, with each facility's address, phone, beds, ownership type, chain name and star ratings. Assisted living is licensed by states, so state licensing agencies are the source there. A Bebop search can describe the facilities you want (independent nonprofit nursing homes in Ohio with 100 to 200 beds, say) and return the facilities and administrators with the reason each fits. The list of nursing homes covers the market in more depth.

Worked example: coding a senior living campus

Illustrative example. The operator and figures are invented.

Maple Crest Communities (maplecrest.example) in Minnesota runs two sites: a campus with independent living apartments, assisted living and a 60-bed licensed nursing facility on site, and a standalone 40-unit assisted living building with no nursing care.

1. The campus. It has assisted living with an on-site nursing care facility, so it's 623311, Continuing Care Retirement Communities, with SIC 8051 or 8059.
2. The standalone building. Room, board and help with daily living, no nursing: 623312, SIC 8361.
3. CMS. If the 60-bed nursing facility is certified for Medicare or Medicaid, it appears in the CMS data with a CCN of its own, flagged as part of a continuing care retirement community.
4. Size. With combined five-year average receipts of $28 million, Maple Crest is small under 623311 ($34.0 million) but would not be under 623312 ($23.5 million) for the whole company, so the code on a contract matters.

Next step: read the list of nursing homes for who buys inside a facility and a chain, and how to reach them.