NAICS code for retail: sector 44-45 and how to pick your code

This page is for store owners and online sellers who need a code for a sales tax permit, bank, insurer, marketplace, SAM.gov or tax return, and for anyone building a list of retailers by code. It covers how the 2022 retail codes are organized, how to pick one, the SIC equivalents, Census counts and SBA size standards.

The retail subsectors in NAICS 2022

Pick the subsector by what you sell, then the six-digit code inside it:

The Census Bureau groups retailers by the merchandise lines they carry, by their usual trade name (pharmacies, department stores), and by the expertise the staff need (car dealers handle financing and registration). Retailers "typically sell merchandise to the general public", which is what separates them from wholesalers.

What changed in 2022: online sellers

Until NAICS 2017, retail had a "nonstore" subsector, 454, and online shops used 454110, Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses. NAICS 2022 removed that distinction. An online clothing shop now uses 458110, the same as a clothing store; an online pet supply shop uses 459910. In the Census concordance, 454110 is split across 42 of the 57 six-digit retail codes in NAICS 2022. Vending machine operators moved to 445132 and fuel dealers to 457210.

This matters for counts. County Business Patterns 2023 still uses NAICS 2017, and it put 54,707 establishments in 454110 that NAICS 2022 now spreads across product codes. CBP 2023 doesn't publish counts for the 2022 codes that absorbed them.

How to choose: the edge cases

The Census sector definition is explicit on the first two exclusions: farms and manufacturers that sell what they produce to the public aren't classified in retail, though processing that's incidental to selling (an optical shop grinding lenses, a butcher cutting meat) stays in retail.

The SIC codes for retail

The 1987 SIC system puts retail in Division G, Major Groups 52 to 59:

Two traps. First, SIC treats restaurants and bars as retail (Major Group 58), while NAICS moved them to Accommodation and Food Services, so a SIC-based "retail" list includes restaurants and a NAICS one doesn't. Second, the catch-all codes map widely: SIC 5999, Miscellaneous Retail Stores NEC, maps to nine NAICS 2022 codes, and SIC 5961, Catalog and Mail-Order Houses, maps to 42. The SEC also uses its own SIC list: Walmart, Costco and Target file under 5331, Retail-Variety Stores, and Amazon under 5961.

How many retail businesses there are

County Business Patterns counted 1,043,373 retail establishments with paid employees in 2023, employing 16,046,207 people with an annual payroll of $605.7 billion (NAICS 2017 basis).

By NAICS 2017 subsector, the largest were food and beverage stores (160,298 establishments), clothing stores (122,162), motor vehicle and parts dealers (119,780), miscellaneous store retailers (116,482), gasoline stations (109,174) and health and personal care stores (89,276). The top states were California (106,675), Texas (84,369), Florida (75,988), New York (71,941) and Pennsylvania (40,238).

CBP counts locations, so a chain with 400 stores counts 400 times, and it leaves out sellers with no employees, which includes many small online shops.

SBA size standards for retail

Dollar figures are average annual receipts over your latest five complete fiscal years, from 13 CFR 121.201 (effective March 17, 2023, unchanged in the eCFR as of 28 October 2026). Retail codes rarely appear on federal supply bids, because SBA's rules say acquisitions for supplies must be classified under a manufacturing or supply code, not a wholesale or retail one (13 CFR 121.402).

Where the code is used

• Tax returns. Schedule C uses the IRS's list, which mostly matches NAICS 2022 but shortens some codes (455000 for general merchandise retailers, 445100 for grocery and convenience). The IRS tells nonstore retailers to pick the code for their main product line, the same rule as NAICS 2022.
• Banks, insurers and payment processors. They compare you with businesses in the same code, so give the code for what you actually sell, not the one a template suggests.
• Federal registration. In SAM.gov, list the code for your main line as primary. Each solicitation names one code, and you must be under its size standard.

Finding retailers by code

EDGAR lists SEC registrants by SIC, for example 5331 variety stores, 5411 grocery stores and 5961 catalog and mail-order. The largest US retail registrants by revenue:

Amazon's total includes cloud services and advertising, not just retail sales. For independent retailers, which make up most of the million establishments, the guide to selling to retailers covers list sources, and a Bebop search such as independent garden centers with two to five locations returns matching companies with the reason each fits.

Worked example

Illustrative example. The business and figures are invented.

Fernhill Goods (fernhill.example) sells home decor and gifts from two stores and a website. Last year: home decor $1.9 million (54%), gifts $1.1 million (31%), and a small cafe counter $0.5 million (14%), $3.5 million in total.

Its primary code is 449129, All Other Home Furnishings Retailers, because home decor is the largest line. Gifts (459420) are a secondary code. The website doesn't change anything: under NAICS 2022, its online sales are classified by product like the store sales. Under NAICS 2017, a separately run web operation could have been coded 454110.

The cafe counter stays a secondary activity at 14%. If it grew past the decor line, Fernhill's primary code would become a food services code (722515, snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars), which would move it out of retail entirely.

Next step: if you sell to stores, the guide to selling to retailers shows how to segment and reach them.