North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) has replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. NAICS will reshape the way we view our changing economy.

NAICS was developed jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide new comparability in statistics about business activity across North America.

NAICS 2002 included substantial revisions from NAICS 1997 within the Construction and Wholesale Trade sectors, and a number of revisions for the Retail and Information sectors. NAICS 2002 was implemented in the 2002 Economic Census. A new North American Product Classification System (NAPCS) is presently under development, with initial focus on products of service industries. (NAPCS will focus on manufacturing products at a later date; for existing census codes, see the Numerical List.)

Federal Register notice describes changes adopted for NAICS 2007. Full code lists and correspondence tables are available.