NAICS code lookup: find the right 2022 code for any business

This page is for anyone who needs a NAICS code for a form (SAM.gov, a loan or insurance application, a grant, a vendor registration, a tax return) and for sellers who use codes to define a target market. Search the box above by keyword or by code. The rest of the page explains how the codes are built and how to choose between two that both look right.

How a NAICS code is built

NAICS, the North American Industry Classification System, is the federal standard for classifying business establishments by what they do. Each digit narrows the one before it. The Census Bureau says a complete, valid NAICS code has six digits, so a two- or four-digit code is a category, not an answer for a form.

Two details help you read a code. The first five digits are shared with Canada and Mexico in most sectors, and the sixth digit adds US-only detail. A zero in the sixth place generally means the five-digit industry isn't split further in the United States: 238160, Roofing Contractors, is the whole of industry 23816.

The 20 sectors and how many businesses are in each

The first two digits give the sector. Manufacturing, retail and transportation each span a range (31-33, 44-45 and 48-49), so a code starting 32 or 45 belongs to one of those. The establishment counts are from the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns (CBP) for 2023.

Manufacturing has a third of all six-digit codes but only about 3% of establishments, so its codes are narrow; services codes are broad. CBP counts establishments with paid employees, on the NAICS 2017 basis, and leaves out crop and animal production, rail, the Postal Service, private households, public administration and most government employers. That's why agriculture looks small. Across all industries CBP counted 8,361,342 establishments with 139,831,742 employees. A company with ten locations counts ten times, and owner-only businesses aren't in the figures.

What changed in NAICS 2022

NAICS is reviewed every five years. The 2022 edition cut the six-digit industries from 1,057 to 1,012 and made noticeable changes in seven sectors. These are the ones most likely to trip up an old form:

• Retail no longer separates stores from online sellers. Subsector 454, Nonstore Retailers, was eliminated. An online shop now takes the code for what it sells, and 454110, Electronic Shopping, is gone.
• Publishing and broadcasting no longer split out the internet. 519130, Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals, was eliminated. Publishers moved to subsector 513, and streaming services and social networks to 516210.
• Finance merged related industries. Investment banking and securities brokerage became 523150. Portfolio management and investment advice became 523940.
• Smaller merges elsewhere. Automobile and light truck manufacturing became 336110, and three specialized auto repair codes became 811114.

If a form rejects a code you've used for years, check whether it's a 2017 code that no longer exists.

OMB published proposed changes for 2027 on 13 July 2026. They're limited: mostly combining small manufacturing industries (the two tire codes, 326211 and 326212, would become 326210), moving electric vehicle motors into motor vehicle parts, and retitling airport operations to include spaceports. The revision would apply to statistical data for periods from 1 January 2027. When we checked on 30 October 2026, the Census NAICS site still listed the July proposal as the latest notice, so NAICS 2022 remains the edition to use.

How to choose your primary code

1. Describe what the location does, as an activity. "Installs commercial roofs" finds better matches than "roofing." NAICS groups businesses by how they produce, so two firms selling the same thing can sit in different sectors.
2. Search, then open the definition. Read the Census description and its cross-references, which send specific activities to other codes. Each result in the search box links to its Census page.
3. If several activities fit, take the largest by revenue. The NAICS manual says the principal activity is ideally measured by production costs and capital, with revenue as the usual stand-in. Classification is made at the six-digit level and goes to the largest share, not a majority: in the manual's example, a plant producing 30% computers, 30% storage devices and 40% semiconductors goes in 334413, Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing.
4. Check the special cases. Some combinations have their own code, such as gasoline stations with convenience stores (457110). Vertically integrated plants generally go in the final stage of production.
5. Classify the location, not the company. NAICS classifies establishments. A company's head office can sit in sector 55 while its plants are in manufacturing.
6. Check the size standard if you'll bid for government work. The SBA sets a size standard for each six-digit code, in receipts or employees.

Where your NAICS code gets used

NAICS was built for statistics, and the Census Bureau notes that other uses played no role in designing it. Those other uses are where your code matters:

Common mistakes

• Treating a code longer than six digits as NAICS. The Census Bureau calls these NAICS-based codes: an agency or vendor built them for its own purposes, and they aren't comparable across sources.
• Waiting for an agency to assign or confirm your code. There is no central agency that assigns, monitors or approves NAICS codes, and Title 13 of the US Code bars the Census Bureau from releasing any company's code. Each agency records what you tell it, so a wrong code stays wrong until you fix it with that agency.
• Copying the tax code to SAM.gov. Grouped IRS codes such as 541600 won't validate as NAICS codes.
• Using a code from an old form. Check pre-2022 codes against the list above.
• Choosing for the work you want instead of the work you do. SAM.gov lets you list secondary codes for services you offer. Keep the primary code for the activity that actually earns the most.

Using codes to build a target list

For a seller, a code turns "IT services firms" into a defined set you can count. Start with the six-digit code, check its CBP count to size the market, then narrow by employee band and state. Codes are self-reported and often broad, so treat them as the first cut and check what each company actually does before you reach out. Bebop Insights supplies firmographic data by API or bulk delivery when you need the list inside your own systems.

Next step: if you're working from an old SIC code, convert it with the NAICS to SIC converter, or see how to find another company's NAICS code.