Short answer
Firmographics are the descriptive facts about a company, the business equivalent of demographics: industry, employee count, revenue, location, ownership, age and number of sites. B2B sales and marketing teams use firmographic data to define an ideal customer profile, size a market, segment a list and route accounts to the right team. It describes what a company is, not what it uses (technographics) or what it's doing now (intent and buying signals).
- Firmographics describe what a company is: industry, size, revenue, location, ownership and age.
- Industry codes follow NAICS (six digits, introduced in 1997) or the older four-digit SIC, which SEC filings still use.
- Count companies and locations separately: one firm can run many establishments.
- Firmographics tell you who could buy; add technographics and signals to see who might buy now.
On this page
This page is for marketers, SDRs, sales ops and founders who build target lists or define an ideal customer profile. It explains what counts as firmographic data, how industry codes work, how to check the data, and shows a list being narrowed with real Census Bureau counts.
What firmographics means
Firmographics (from "firm" and "demographics") are the attributes that describe an organization. Where demographics describe a person by age, income or location, firmographics describe a company by industry, size, revenue, location and structure. A firmographic profile sounds like this: hospitals and insurers in the Phoenix metro with 100 to 999 employees, privately held, with their IT decisions made locally.
Because these facts change slowly and are widely available, firmographics are the first filter almost every B2B team applies, and the backbone of an ideal customer profile.
Firmographic data fields
| Field | Example values | Typical sources | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industry | NAICS 541110, Offices of Lawyers | Company description, registries, data providers | Codes assigned by guesswork; conglomerates in several industries |
| Employee count | 140, or a band such as 100 to 249 | Company sites, filings, professional profiles, providers | Headcount at one site versus the whole company |
| Annual revenue | $25M to $50M | SEC filings for public companies; estimates for private ones | Private-company revenue is almost always modeled |
| Location | Headquarters city and state, other sites | Company site, registries | Registered address isn't always where decisions are made |
| Number of locations | 1, or 14 clinics | Company site, Census counts in aggregate | Each site may be counted as a separate record |
| Ownership | Public, private, private-equity backed, nonprofit | Filings, press releases | Ownership changes after acquisitions |
| Company age | Founded 2009 | Registries, company site | Re-registrations after mergers |
| Growth | Headcount up 20% in a year | Hiring pages, profile counts over time | Short-term noise in small companies |
Industry codes: NAICS and SIC
Most industry filters rest on one of two code systems:
- NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) is the standard US federal agencies use for business statistics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes it was introduced in 1997, developed with Canada and Mexico, and is revised periodically. Codes run to six digits, from broad sector (54, professional services) down to detailed industry (541110, Offices of Lawyers).
- SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) is the four-digit system NAICS replaced after more than 60 years. It's still in use: the SEC's EDGAR system lists each filer's SIC code to indicate its type of business, and uses it to assign which office reviews the company's filings.
Codes are a starting point, not proof. A company's code in a database may have been inferred from a few keywords. When the industry matters, read how the company describes itself.
Firmographics vs other company data
| Data type | Answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Firmographics | What is the company? | Regional hospital, 600 employees, Phoenix |
| Technographics | What technology does it use? | Runs its own on-site servers and a particular EHR system |
| Intent data and signals | What is it doing or researching now? | Researching colocation, hiring a data-center manager |
| Demographics | Who is the person? | An individual's age, role or location |
Firmographics say who could buy. The other two say who might buy now.
Worked example: narrowing a list with real counts
Illustrative example. The company is invented; the counts are real, from County Business Patterns 2023.
Saguaro Colo (saguarocolo.example) runs a data-center colocation facility near Phoenix. Its best customers are mid-sized organizations in finance and insurance, health care, manufacturing and information (software, telecoms and media) that have outgrown a server room. Here's how firmographic filters narrow the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro area:
| Filter | Establishments | Share of all |
|---|---|---|
| All establishments with paid employees | 114,586 | 100% |
| With 100 to 999 employees | 3,132 | 2.7% |
| And in finance and insurance (180), health care (417), manufacturing (239) or information (80) | 916 | 0.8% |
Two firmographic filters took the market from 114,586 locations to 916. Three cautions before anyone starts calling:
- Establishments aren't companies. County Business Patterns counts physical locations with paid employees. A health system with four large sites appears four times, so the number of companies is lower.
- Size is per site. These bands count employees at the location, not across the company. A 150-person office of a 20,000-person insurer is in the list, but its IT decisions are probably made at headquarters, perhaps in another state.
- The count isn't a list of names. Census data tells you the size of the opportunity. Turning it into named accounts takes company-level data, and the next filter, whether the company still runs its own servers, is technographic.
The TAM, SAM and SOM guide shows how to turn counts like these into a market size.
How to check firmographic data
- Compare two sources for headcount. If they disagree by more than one size band, check the company's own site or filings.
- Read the company's description of itself before trusting an industry code.
- Use filings for public companies. SEC filings give audited revenue and a reported employee count.
- Separate headquarters from sites. Decide which one your filter means, and label it.
- Date every record. Recheck anything more than a year old before a campaign; companies grow, shrink, merge and move.
How teams use firmographics
- ICP and market sizing: defining who fits and counting them.
- Segmentation and territories: splitting accounts by region, size or industry so each rep has a fair patch.
- Routing and scoring: sending enterprise accounts to one team and small businesses to another, and scoring fit in a model like the lead scoring template.
- Messaging: writing for a 50-person firm differently from a 5,000-person one.
Bebop Insights delivers firmographic, technographic and signal data by API or bulk file for teams that want to run these filters on their own systems.
Next step: add the second layer of filtering with technographics.
Sources
- Introduction to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), US Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 26 October 2026
- Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code List, US Securities and Exchange Commission, accessed 26 October 2026
- 2023 County Business Patterns datasets (metropolitan area file), US Census Bureau, accessed 26 October 2026
- About County Business Patterns, US Census Bureau, accessed 26 October 2026
- Statistics of U.S. Businesses: Methodology, US Census Bureau, accessed 26 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Last updated .
Questions people ask
What does firmographic mean?
Firmographic describes the characteristics of a company, in the same way demographic describes the characteristics of a person. Firmographic data includes industry, employee count, revenue, location, number of sites, ownership and company age. B2B sales and marketing teams use it to decide which companies fit their offer, to segment lists and territories, and to size a market.
What is firmographic data used for?
It's used to define an ideal customer profile, size a target market, build and segment prospect lists, assign territories, route inbound leads to the right team and score how well an account fits. Because firmographics change slowly and are easy to filter on, they're usually the first filter applied, before technographic data or buying signals narrow the list further.
What is the difference between firmographics and demographics?
Demographics describe people: age, income, education, job title or location. Firmographics describe organizations: industry, size, revenue, location and ownership. B2C marketers segment on demographics; B2B marketers segment on firmographics to choose companies, then use people-level details such as role and seniority to choose who to contact inside each company. Most B2B lists use both.
What is the difference between firmographics and technographics?
Firmographics describe what a company is: its industry, size, revenue and location. Technographics describe the technology it uses: its CRM, cloud provider, ecommerce platform or on-site infrastructure. Firmographics tell you whether a company could be a customer; technographics help tell you whether it needs what you sell, can integrate with it, or currently uses a competitor.
Where can I get firmographic data?
For counts, the US Census Bureau's County Business Patterns and Statistics of US Businesses give establishments and firms by industry, size and location, without company names. For named companies, use SEC filings for public companies, state business registries, company websites and hiring pages, and B2B data providers that compile and verify records. Check any provider's data against a sample you know well.