NAICS code for software development: 541511, 513210 and SaaS

This page is for founders, agencies and finance teams choosing a code for a bank account, an SBA or state application, SAM.gov or a customer's vendor portal, and for sellers building lists of software companies. If you advise on or integrate technology rather than build it, the IT consulting code page covers 541512 and its neighbors.

The software development codes

Employees per establishment is our calculation from County Business Patterns.

Custom or published: the rule that decides

The Census Bureau's cross-references draw one line through all of software: who the software is for.

1. Built to one client's needs, the client owns or directs the result: 541511. The definition says "to meet the needs of a particular customer." Agencies, dev shops, contract developers and staff-augmentation firms that write code belong here.
2. Built once and sold to many as your product: 513210. Publishers "may design, develop, and publish, or publish only," and may distribute "through subscriptions and/or downloads." That covers a SaaS company selling its own application.
3. Running computing for others, not publishing software: 518210. Its examples include application hosting, platform as a service and infrastructure as a service, and its definition excludes software publishing.

If you do more than one, classify by the activity with the most revenue and list the others as secondary codes. A product company with a services arm that earns less than the subscriptions is still 513210.

Robotics engineering design for factories goes to 541330, Engineering Services, under 541512's cross-references; the 541511 index keeps robotics software design and development in 541511.

The 2022 change: 511210 is now 513210

NAICS 2022 moved Software Publishers from 511210 to 513210, in a new subsector 513, Publishing Industries. The definition carried over, and the County Business Patterns figures above are reported under 511210, because CBP 2023 still uses NAICS 2017 codes. If your SAM.gov profile, bank file or insurance policy says 511210, update it.

The SIC codes for software

From the Census concordances:

So the SIC code for software development is 7371 for custom work and 7372 for a software company. The SEC uses 7372, Services-Prepackaged Software, for most public software companies, plus 7370, 7371, 7373 and 7374, and its labels don't always follow the business model, as the table below shows. Look up any other pair in the NAICS to SIC converter.

How many software businesses there are

County Business Patterns 2023 counts 18,425 software publisher establishments with 1,011,187 employees and $203.7 billion in annual payroll, about $201,430 per employee. Custom programming has nearly the same headcount spread across almost four times as many establishments: 68,051 establishments, 1,012,250 employees and $125.8 billion in payroll, about $124,250 per employee (both our calculations).

The top states for custom programming are California (10,962 establishments), Texas (6,411), Florida (4,839), Virginia (4,080) and New York (3,559). For software publishers they're California (3,890), Texas (1,302), New York (1,264), Florida (908) and Washington (860). CBP counts locations with paid employees, not companies, and leaves out solo developers with no staff.

SBA size standards and federal spending

From SBA's table effective 17 March 2023, still current in the eCFR on 28 October 2026, in average annual receipts: 541511, 541512 and 541519 are $34.0 million, 518210 is $40.0 million and 513210 is $47.0 million. A footnote to 513210 says federal purchases of software subject to a waiver of the nonmanufacturer rule are classified under 513210. IT value-added resellers have their own 150-employee standard as an exception under 541519.

Federal contract obligations from USAspending.gov show where the government buys:

Each solicitation carries one code chosen by the contracting officer, and you're judged against that code's standard, so a software company registered only as 513210 can miss custom development bids posted under 541511.

Where the code is used, and what a wrong one costs

• Tax returns. Schedule C shortens these to 513000 (publishing industries) and 541510 (computer systems design and related services); Form 1120 lists 513210, 541511, 541512 and 518210 separately.
• Banks, insurers and investors. A SaaS company filed as 541511 looks like a services firm, which changes how lenders and underwriters read its revenue and risk.
• Market research. Analysts and acquirers screen by code; a product company sitting in 541511 drops out of software publisher screens.

Finding software companies by code

EDGAR lists public companies by SIC: 7372 prepackaged software, 7371 computer programming and 7374 computer processing. Examples from their latest 10-Ks:

Workday sells its own subscription software, which NAICS would put in 513210, yet the SEC files it under data processing. Private software firms don't appear on EDGAR at all; Bebop finds them from a description, such as vertical SaaS companies with 50 to 200 employees selling to hospitals.

Worked example

Illustrative example. The company and its figures are invented; the standards and counts are SBA's and the Census Bureau's.

Lattice Labs (lattice.example) builds custom apps for clients and has launched its own scheduling product. Last year: $1.8 million from client projects and $0.6 million in subscriptions.

1. Today's code. Client work is 75% of revenue ($1.8 million of $2.4 million), so the primary code is 541511, with 513210 as a secondary code. SIC: 7371.
2. When to switch. If subscriptions reach $2.0 million next year while client work stays at $1.8 million, the product earns more and the primary code becomes 513210 (SIC 7372).
3. Size. Five-year average receipts of about $1.5 million are far under both standards, $34.0 million and $47.0 million, so Lattice can register as small under each.
4. Bidding. With $10.28 billion obligated under 541511 in fiscal 2025, Lattice keeps 541511 in SAM.gov even after the switch, because most federal custom development is posted under it.

Next step: if you also advise clients on technology, compare the codes on the NAICS code for IT consulting page.