NAICS is a comprehensive system covering all economic activities. The 2012 edition of NAICS supersedes the 2007 edition published in May 2007. The 2012 edition includes new and emerging industries, several title changes, and clarification of industry definitions.

• Part I: Titles and Descriptions of Industries provides a detailed description of all sectors from Sector 11 Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting to Sector 92 Public Administration

• Part II: List of Short Titles has been created for the use of those who find that space limitations preclude the use of the full title for the dissemination of data classified to NAICS

• Part III : Appendixes A and B maps the changes for 2012 NAICS to the 2007 NAICS in 2012 NAICS sequence (Appendix A) and 2007 NAICS sequence (Appendix B)

• Part IV: Alphabetic Index of all 1,065 industries

NAICS 2012 classifies all economic activity into 20 sectors 1,065 industries. The sectors and their two-digit codes include:

11. Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting

21. Mining

22. Utilities

23. Construction

31-33. Manufacturing

42. Wholesale trade

44-45. Retail trade

48-49. Transportation and warehousing

51. Information

52. Finance and insurance

53. Real estate and rental and leasing

54. Professional, scientific, and technical services

55. Management of companies and enterprises

56. Administrative and support and waste management and remediation

61. Educational services

62. Health care and social assistance

71. Arts, entertainment, and recreation

72. Accommodation and food services

81. Other services (except public administration)

92. Public administration

Frequently Asked Question about NAICS

What is the purpose of NAICS?

• It is an industry classification system that groups establishments into industries based on the similarity of their production processes. It is a comprehensive system covering all economic activities.

It was initially developed and subsequently revised to provide common industry definitions for Canada, Mexico, and the United States that facilitate economic analyses of the economies of the three North American countries. The statistical agencies in the three countries produce information on inputs and outputs, industrial performance, productivity, unit labor costs, and employment.

Who uses NAICS and why is it so important?

• Although it was designed for statistical purposes, it is often used for various administrative, regulatory, contracting, and taxation purposes. For example, some state governments offer tax incentives to businesses classified in specified NAICS industries. In addition, some contracting authorities require businesses to register their NAICS codes, which are used to determine eligibility to bid on certain contracts. NAICS is used by all kinds of businesses, government agencies, policy analysts, academics and researchers, and the general public.

• NAICS was revised under the guidance of the Office of Management and Budget by the Economic Classification Policy Committee (ECPC), members of which come from a variety of government agencies.

• There is no central government agency with the role of assigning, monitoring, or approving codes for establishments. Different agencies maintain their own lists of business establishments to meet their own programmatic needs. For example, the Social Security Administration assigns a NAICS code to new businesses based on information provided on their application for an Employer Identification Number. The Census Bureau generally assigns NAICS codes to businesses on its list of establishments based on information provided by the business on a survey or census report form. The Bureau of Labor Statistics initially assigns NAICS codes based on business activity information provided on an application related to unemployment insurance coverage.

• NAICS is reviewed for potential revision every five years. The next revision, should it be necessary, won’t occur until 2017.

• There were 1,175 industries in 2007 NAICS United States and in 2012 NAICS United States there are 1,065 industries. For 2012, revisions were made to address changes in the economy. These included content revisions for selected areas, several title changes, and clarification of a few industry definitions. Specifically, two of the changes included collapsing the detail in the Manufacturing sector to reduce statistical product production costs and respondent burden and adding new and emerging industries.