North American Industry Classification System
NAICS organizes establishments by production process into a hierarchy of up to six digits — each digit narrowing the activity from broad sector to specific national industry.
How a NAICS code is built
Each digit narrows the activity from the broadest sector down to a specific national industry. Here's how 311111 decomposes:
Structure at a glance
Browse sectors
History
Developed jointly by the US, Canada, and Mexico to replace SIC, NAICS was first adopted in 1997 to reflect a production-oriented economy. It is revised every five years to keep pace with new and emerging industries.
Usage & importance
Used by US federal statistical agencies for collecting and publishing data on the economy, by businesses for registration and tax filing, and by analysts for market sizing and benchmarking.
Revision timeline
Convert NAICS codes to any other system
Verified crosswalks between NAICS and the other ten systems, both sides clickable.