NAICS code for tree service: 561730, and when tree work belongs elsewhere

This page is for tree care owners and office managers filling in a code for an insurer, a bank, a utility's contractor portal or SAM.gov, and for sellers who target tree companies. If most of your revenue is mowing and planting, the landscaping code page covers the rest of 561730.

The code: 561730

The Census Bureau's definition of 561730 covers establishments "providing landscape care and maintenance services and/or installing trees, shrubs, plants, lawns, or gardens." Its index is explicit about tree work. These entries all sit in 561730:

• Tree services (e.g., bracing, planting, pruning, removal, spraying, surgery, trimming)
• Arborist services
• Ornamental tree and shrub services
• Tree and brush trimming, overhead utility line

So a residential tree company, a commercial arborist and a utility vegetation management crew doing routine line clearance share one code. The SIC equivalent is 0783, Ornamental Shrub and Tree Services, which maps wholly to 561730; 561730 also absorbs SIC 0782, Lawn and Garden Services.

Tree work that belongs in another code

The right-of-way rows come from the Census text: 561730 excludes "right of way cutting (except maintenance)," and the 238910 index lists power, communication and pipeline right-of-way clearance "(except maintenance)" and cutting new rights of way. A line-clearance contractor that both maintains existing corridors and clears new ones should code by whichever earns more and list the other.

Forestry is the edge that changes the money. Federal fuels reduction and forest fire suppression contracts are classified under 115310, and SBA gives those two activities their own size standard.

SIC codes for tree service

So the SIC code for tree service is 0783. The SEC's list doesn't carry it; tree and landscape companies that file with the SEC use 0700, Agricultural Services. For any other pair, use the NAICS to SIC converter.

How many tree service businesses there are

County Business Patterns can't isolate tree care: it reports 561730 as a whole. In 2023 that was 117,969 establishments with paid employees, 802,899 employees and $41.2 billion in annual payroll, about $51,290 per employee and 6.8 employees per establishment (our calculations).

The top states are Florida (10,670), California (9,393), New York (7,725), Texas (5,568) and Pennsylvania (5,179). Forestry support (115310) is far smaller and sits where the forests are: 2,023 establishments with 15,361 employees, led by Oregon (287), Washington (139), Georgia (137), California (116) and Alabama (110).

CBP counts locations with paid employees, not companies, and leaves out owner-operators working alone, common in tree work. It uses NAICS 2017 codes; neither code changed in 2022.

SBA size standards and federal work

From SBA's table effective 17 March 2023, still current in the eCFR on 28 October 2026:

SBA's footnote defines fuels management as clearing land of hazardous materials that would fuel forest fires, by prescribed fire, mechanical removal, fuel breaks, thinning, pruning and piling. That's tree work, and the standard is more than three times the 561730 figure.

Federal contract obligations from USAspending.gov:

The Department of Agriculture placed $868.2 million (71.9%) of the fiscal 2025 total under 115310, and Interior $329.5 million. A tree company that does fuels work should register 115310 as well as 561730.

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

• Insurance. Tree work and mowing carry different risks, and 561730 covers both, so describe the tree share of your revenue accurately whatever code you give.
• Utility work. Routine line clearance is maintenance, 561730; a firm that leads with 238910 presents itself as a construction clearing contractor.
• Tax returns. Schedule C and Form 1120 use 561730, Landscaping services, and 115310, Support activities for forestry.

Finding tree service companies

Few tree companies report publicly. One that files a 10-K with the SEC:

Its 10-K describes "arboricultural, horticultural, environmental and consulting services" and an "employee-owned" structure. For everyone else: ISA's Find an Arborist directory lists ISA-credentialed arborists, and state and city tree contractor licenses name firms where they're required. Bebop finds tree companies from a description, such as utility line clearance contractors with 50 to 500 employees in the Southeast.

Worked example

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

Ironwood Tree Care (ironwood.example) earned $3.2 million last year: $1.4 million from residential pruning and removals, $0.9 million from utility line clearance subcontracts, $0.5 million from Forest Service fuels reduction and $0.4 million from clearing lots for a homebuilder.

1. Primary code. Residential work and line clearance are both 561730: $2.3 million of $3.2 million (71.9%). Primary code 561730, SIC 0783.
2. Secondary codes. 115310 for the fuels work and 238910 for lot clearing.
3. Size. Five-year average receipts of $2.6 million are under $9.5 million, so Ironwood is small under 561730. On a fuels management bid under 115310 the standard is $34.0 million, so it would stay small even at ten times its size.

Next step: compare the other 561730 activities on the NAICS code for landscaping page.