Understanding NAICS Codes

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by government agencies and businesses across the US, Canada, and Mexico to classify companies by the type of economic activity they perform. It replaced the older SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) system and is maintained jointly by statistical agencies in all three countries, with a revision cycle every five years (the current version is NAICS 2022). Each NAICS code is a two-to-six digit number:

• 2 digits — sector (broadest category, e.g. 54 = Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services)
• 3 digits — subsector
• 4 digits — industry group
• 5 digits — NAICS industry
• 6 digits — national industry (the most specific level, used for US-specific reporting)

The further right you go, the more specific the classification. A company’s NAICS code narrows from a broad sector down to a precise description of what it actually does.

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What NAICS codes are used for

NAICS codes are widely used to:

• Segment and filter company data by industry
• Benchmark businesses against others in the same category
• Determine eligibility for government contracts, grants, and loans (e.g. SBA size standards)
• Power targeting and prospecting in B2B sales and marketing
• Standardize industry classification across databases from different sources

Below is the full list of the 20 top-level NAICS sectors. The subsector table for each one follows in Subsector reference tables.

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Where NAICS codes are used in MoltSets

naics_code is a filter on the search_companies and search_people endpoints. It matches at any level of the hierarchy, so a 2-digit sector code casts a wide net and a 6-digit code narrows to a precise industry — for example, "54" returns all of Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, while "541120" returns only Offices of Notaries. It’s the most standardised of the industry filters available on these endpoints (the others being industry and linkedin_industry), so it’s the one to reach for when you need consistent, well-defined industry boundaries rather than broader category buckets — useful for building prospect lists or contact searches that need to match a specific industry precisely, rather than relying on a loosely-related keyword bucket.

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Subsector reference tables

Each table below lists the 3-digit subsector codes within that sector. These are the next level of detail below the top-level sector code.

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11 — Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting

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21 — Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction

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22 — Utilities

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23 — Construction

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31-33 — Manufacturing

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42 — Wholesale Trade

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44-45 — Retail Trade

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48-49 — Transportation and Warehousing

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51 — Information

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52 — Finance and Insurance

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53 — Real Estate and Rental and Leasing

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54 — Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

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55 — Management of Companies and Enterprises

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56 — Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services

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61 — Educational Services

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62 — Health Care and Social Assistance

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71 — Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation

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72 — Accommodation and Food Services

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81 — Other Services (except Public Administration)

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92 — Public Administration

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